Telecom New Zealand (ASX:TEL) has made good on its plans to become a player in New Zealand’s Ultra-Fast Broadband network submitting a “refined proposal” to the New Zealand Government on how it would help deliver the proposed fibre to the home network.
In an ASX statement, Telecom NZ’s chief executive officer, Paul Reynolds, said the proposal is predicated on the structural separation of Telecom through a demerger into two companies which would create a new stand alone company, Chorus2.
“This would be a significant event for our company and would radically transform the telecommunications sector in New Zealand," Reynolds said.
"A significant structural change to Telecom’s business would require 75 per cent of the shares... to vote in favour of the demerger proposal.”
The bid outlines Telecom’s plan to make fibre to the home available to 75 per cent of New Zealanders by 2019.
Back in May the company said it was “fully investigating” structural separation in order to align the interests of its equity and debt holders with those of the Government and people of New Zealand in order to be involved in the Ultra-Fast Broadband build-out.
Over the past week, the company has sold its stake in Macquarie Telecom for $9.9 million, and its AAPT assets to Internet Service Provider, iiNet (ASX:IIN) for $60 million, after much speculation.