ISPANZ over the moon with govt broadband decision

ISPANZ over the moon with govt broadband decision

The Internet Service Providers Association of New Zealand applauds the Government's bold steps in announcing local loop unbundling, unconstrained UBS and Naked DSL have all been approved.

ISPANZ which represents the majority of the ISP industry says that while any announcement had expected to include LLU, the addition of Unconstrained UBS and Naked DSL should allow New Zealand to quickly gather momentum in OECD broadband rankings.

“ISPANZ is excited and pleased that the Government has delivered LLU, Unconstrained UBS and Naked DSL in one bold move that should not only allow our members to increase their investment in broadband technology, but also provide for a better wholesale environment than the one we have today” says ISPANZ Vice-President Scott Bartlett.

“LLU is important to move the country forward, and we are thrilled that the Government listened to our advice on UBS and Naked DSL and included them as a part of this review. With nearly 100,000 kiwis on existing wholesale broadband, immediate improvements here are going to produce fast results for our customers” continued Bartlett.

ISPANZ also looks forward to working with both the Ministry of Economic Development and the Commerce Commission to provide input into what the shape LLU must be for it to be effective in New Zealand. Mr. Bartlett says that in order for LLU to work well there is much more work yet to be done.

“Today we are celebrating, but tomorrow is when the work begins to make sure that now that we have LLU, it will be delivered in a useful form. A number of issues are yet to be worked out such as access pricing, tenancy costs, backhaul costs, availability and even rack design; so the devil is very much in the detail, but that said, we are confident that we are across all the issues that could come up, and look forward to working through them with the Government.”

ISPANZ participated heavily in the Government's stock take review process leading up to the May 3rd announcement, and our submissions were illustrated on page 54 of the Cabinet paper. This table is copied below:

Key recommendation Proposed by Not supported by
LLU Orcon, TelstraClear, Ihug, TUANZ, Slingshot, ISPANZ Telecom, Vector, BCL, Business Roundtable
Unconstrained UBS Ihug, Orcon, Slingshot, ISPANZ Telecom, Vector
Naked DSL Orcon, Ihug, ISPANZ Telecom, Vector
Structural Separation InternetNZ, Slingshot, ISPANZ, TUANZ, Orcon Telecom, Vector

“We worked really hard on our submissions process, and a number of our members reached into their own pockets to fund research, position papers, and outside advice that all formed a part of our submissions to the Government, and yesterday we saw the fruits of those efforts. We are especially pleased the see that a number of our smaller members have been carefully considered by the Government when the Cabinet paper was drafted. That makes this a win for all of ISPANZ, not just the larger players.” Concluded Bartlett.

ENDS