So who pays?

Telecom's partner in building the XT network, Alcatel-Lucent, counter-claimed against Telecom over the XT debacle after Telecom complained about components of the network it had supplied.
The dispute is revealed in Alcatel-Lucent New Zealand's latest financial statement, which gives a brief account of the events in January and February when Telecom's new 3G mobile network suffered a series of damaging, widespread outages.

At the time much speculation focused on whether and how much Telecom would obtain in compensation from Alcatel-Lucent, whose global CEO Ben Verwaayen flew in to New Zealand in May to hold personal talks with Telecom chief Paul Reynolds.

Neither side has commented on who footed the bill for fixing the network, but the report reveals their dispute was settled without an admission of liability.

The size of the deal is not stated in the report but it is clear that it involved a payment, as ''the cost will be split between the Alcatel Lucent group delivering units and Alcatel Lucent New Zealand.''
The effect on the New Zealand unit was ''not expected to be material''.
For the year to December, Alcatel-Lucent NZ reported a sharp decline in revenue and profit after a bumper 2008.

Revenue was $333.9 million, down 21 per cent on the previous year's $423.5 million, split 60/40 between service income and hardware sales.
Profit was more than halved at $12 million, down from $30.5 million.
During the year the company paid a dividend of $16 million to its parent company.
A spokesman for Actatel-Lucent New Zealand said the company was in a quiet period until the release of its group half year results on July 30 and could not comment beyond the information provided in the financial statements.