Plans to roll out ultra-fast broadband in Hamilton are about a week away, although industry and consumer groups are pressing the Government for changes to the law which will govern the new service.

A Wel Networks-led consortium was awarded the contract to roll out the Government's $300 million UFB network in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki regions.

Wel Networks chief executive Julian Elder said the consortium was about one week away from releasing its plans for the Waikato.

The project is tipped to bring 300 jobs to the region and a major boost to business, with faster internet access.

"Things can get in the way but we're in the final stages of tying down all of the details so that we can get the build under way."

The Wel consortium includes Waipa Networks, the Hamilton Fibre Network, Environment Waikato, Wintec, Waikato University and Velocity Networks.

Te Rapa, Frankton, Hamilton Central and Claudelands would be connected to the network first.

Nationally, there are 13 telecommunications service providers indicating they want to sell the new UFB service to customers.

In the Waikato, RuralLink and Velocity have lodged their interest.

It is understood that negotiations are under way on how a retail arm would be split off Velocity, which owns some existing infrastructure in Hamilton and operates as a retailer.

RuralLink chief technology officer Murray Pearson said there were negotiations going on but RuralLink had indicated that it wanted to sell the new service. Pricing would depend on what the wholesale rates were, and these hadn't been finalised yet.

"I think it will all start to become clearer in the next few weeks."

Wholesale rates for the service were tipped at between $40 for entry level and $60 for residential, increasing to $600 for a premium business connection.

Nationally, there has been opposition to planned law changes which would govern the network.

Industry and consumer groups, along with several telecommunications companies, wrote a joint letter to MPs yesterday to press their case for changes to the Telecommunications Amendment Bill.

They oppose a planned nine-year "regulatory holiday" for the network, a planned single price for access to Telecom's copper phone lines in urban and rural areas, and what they perceive as a watering-down of regulations designed to protect and police competition.

The letter was signed by Vodafone, 2degrees, TelstraClear, CallPlus, Kordia, Opto Network and Torotoro Waea, as well as Federated Farmers, Consumer New Zealand, the Telecommunications Users Association and InternetNZ.

- Waikato Times