Telecom has brought forward plans to offer wholesale services on its XT Network by a year, it’s been announced today.

As foreshadowed by CEO Paul Reynolds at Telecom’s Q1 results last week, the WCDMA network will be opened up to competitors in 2010.

Telecom Wholesale general manager of marketing Nick Clarke says the decision to offer its 3G network to MVNO (mobile virtual network owners) providers earlier is in response to customer feedback.

“We have been listening to the telecommunications retailers we work with who have been telling us that they want to be able to provide their customers with the best mobile experience available in New Zealand. We have taken onboard their feedback and agreed to pull forward the timeline for wholesaling the WCDMA network by nearly a year.”

The first MVNO on the network is likely to be Digital Island, which has been offering its niche business customer base mobile services on Telecom’s CDMA network.

Telecom’s previous MVNO partner TelstraClear announced it would be returning to Vodafone and wholesaling services on its 3G network after Telecom declined to wholesale XT when it launched in May.

Vodafone has a number of MVNO arrangements, including Slingshot/CallPlus, Black & White and Compass.