Telecom letter not the end of the story InternetNZ

Telecom letter not the end of the story InternetNZ – Media Release Friday 1 December 2006

InternetNZ responded today to the 14 November 2006 letter Telecom sent to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Telecommunications Amendment Bill, as reported in this morning’s Dominion Post.

“The Committee’s draft bill, released this Tuesday, shows that it has not responded to Telecom’s bluster. The operational separation plan outlined in that letter is not one the industry or the Government can accept,” said InternetNZ spokesperson Jordan Carter.

The letter was sent subsequent to the meeting between Telecom and the Select Committee on 11 October, and pitched another inadequate operational separation plan.

“If Parliament passes the legislation as drafted, it is up to the Minister of Communications to define what will be included in the operational separation plan and consequent undertakings.

“A number of issues will need to be resolved. These include the list of products that are included in the operational separation plan, where the corporate organisational lines need to be drawn around the network assets and services subject to Equality of Access obligations, and many other important issues.

“Telecom are seeking to minimise the impact of operational separation by excluding legacy products from the new regime, and leaving backhaul, all fibre and NGN technology out of the proposed network division.

“The industry and groups like InternetNZ will be strongly advocating an operational separation plan which deals with the core problem - Telecom’s ability and incentive to use its local access network to its competitive advantage. This plan doesn’t cut it.

“Telecom’s proposal is just a start, and continues their approach of claiming similarities with British Telecom’s Openreach model that do not stand up to intensive scrutiny.

“InternetNZ has been analyzing the draft Bill and will be making its views known to Government shortly. We will also look forward to commenting on the draft operational separation plan when it is released next year,” concluded Jordan Carter.

ENDS

© Scoop Media