As a further deal sweetener, an installation credit of $88 (US$60) is proposed and Telecom says it will give ISPs that wish to wholesale other products such as phone lines the same increased discounts that TelstraClear has been offered.

Asked if not having UBS plans ready for wholesalers at the same time as Xtra launches its retail ones, Telecom spokesman John Goulter would only say that the telco is currently discussing UBS speeds with the ISPs. This will give them access to the same speeds as the new retail plans, Goulter says, but he would not be drawn on when they are available.

TelstraClear says it believes will have the same offerings as other ISPs from April 1, group manager of communications, Mathew Bolland says. However, Bolland says that currently, TelstraClear only has two UBS plans, negotiated commercially with Telecom in December in lieu of a regulated service.

The chief executive of the Telecommunications Users' Association of New Zealand (TUANZ), Ernie Newman, wrote an open letter to Callplus, Ihug and Orcon over the weekend, urging them not to accept Telecom's UBS proposal. Accepting the offer instead of seeking a regulated service would condemn New Zealand to "broadband oblivion" for the next two years, Newman says in the letter. He points out that 3.5Mbit/s service is "ancient history" and that the going fare elsewhere is now 24Mbit/s for less money. At the same time, Newman and TUANZ says Xtra's new retail plans are a "significant move in the right direction" and urges small businesses to take up broadband at reduced prices.

Of the wholesale ISPs, only Orcon has publicly said it will accept Telecom's proposal. Orcon spokesman Scott Bartlett describes the new plans as "mediocre at best" and says the ISP is concerned that by making their retail plans public before UBS equivalents are ready, Telecom is forcing ISPs to sign up to their commercial offer. This, Bartlett says, hampers Orcon and other ISPs ability to negotiate improvements to Telecom's proposal.