Amnet opens ADSL2+ to 295 exchanges

ISP Amnet has inked a wholesale agreement with Telstra that will enable it to offer ADSL2+ services across 295 exchanges in Western Australia and South Australia.

The provider, which is a subsidiary of Amcom Telecommunications, reached the agreement two weeks ago after a month of negotiations.

Spokesman Chris Liebetrau told iTnews the ISP would continue to sell ADSL2+ services on its own DSLAMs, which are in 37 exchanges in both states.

Some of these exchanges had Telstra DSLAMs that the ISP would also now have access to.

"There are some double-ups," Liebetrau said.

The new plans, called non-enabled, start at $69 for a 4GB allowance, which is split between peak and off-peak.

The same $69 on Amnet's own ADSL2+ network buys 75GB.

Similarly, $89 buys 60GB on the Telstra-enabled service compared to 105GB on Amnet's existing network.

Liebetrau acknowledged the "premium" but claimed the plans - apart from the entry-level 4GB offer - compared favourably to those offered by other ISPs that also resold a Telstra service, including Internode and Westnet.

"On the [larger] plans we've done quite a bit to maximise the value we can offer customers," he said.

"But because the wholesale Telstra equipment costs a lot more than our own network, we can't keep the access costs to a level that we'd like to."

But he said a peering allowance and the fact Amnet didn't count uploads would count in its favour for winning over customers.

Liebetrau also defended Amnet's decision to restrict regional customers to the highest available Telstra plan - which costs $139 for 180GB.

"For people living outside metropolitan Adelaide and Perth, the port costs [charged by Telstra] increase quite dramatically," he said.

"It's not profitable for us to offer plans in these areas at the same [lower] price points. It's an unfortunate situation for us to be in because we value our regional customers, but it's a business decision."

Liebetrau indicated there were no plans to offset the effect of this by rolling out DSLAMs into regional areas.