Yesterday, Orcon became the first ISP to launch plans around the govt's unbundling of the local loop, with 24Mbit/s plans announced for limited areas of Auckland.

Now Vodafone (whose brand now includes the ISP formerly known as ihug) says it is following suit for a mid-year launch of unbundled plans.

"We are currently installing 'super IP DSLAMs' from Huawei into the first 15 exchanges to be unbundled. We've already completed the first five of these," says Vodafone's GM of Technology for fixed line, David Diprose in a media statement.

Vodafone says its gear will be in 40 Auckland exchanges by the end of the year, and 20 exchanges in other centres.

"These DSLAMs are 'super' because in the one cabinet they translate the plain old telephone call into IP, deliver ADSL2+ broadband and deliver VDSL2 broadband. This truly is a next generation network," says Diprose

Those lucky enough to have access to VDSL2 - which will be offered to an estimated 20% of unbundled customers - and who live within 1km of their exchange, can expect speeds of up to 50Mbit/s download and 20Mbit/s upload.

[UPDATE]: Thanks to Michael Foreman and Jan Birkeland, we now have a slideshow revealing the guts of Telecom's Ponsonby exchange. If you want to see a snaking coil of cables to 7,371 broadband and 15,153 telephone connections, check it out here.