Final liability allocation for telecommunications providers

Commission releases final decision on liability allocation for telecommunications providers

Media Release

Issued 18 December 2014

Release No. 67

The Commerce Commission has released its final decision confirming how much 22 telecommunications providers will pay towards the $50 million Telecommunications Development Levy (TDL) for 2013/14.

The Commission’s final decision is consistent with the draft released on 12 November, with only a minor adjustment made to the individual payment levels. As noted in the draft decision, almost 90% of the contributions will be paid by Spark, Chorus and Vodafone.

The government uses the annual levy to pay for telecommunications infrastructure including the relay service for the deaf and hearing-impaired, broadband for rural areas, and improvements to the 111 emergency service.

The final report can be found at: www.comcom.govt.nz/201314-tdl-liability-allocation-determination.

Background

The Telecommunications Development Levy (TDL) was established by legislation in June 2011. The levy is set at $50 million a year until 2016.

The levy — about 1% of telecommunications services revenue — is paid by companies, or groups of companies, earning more than $10 million per year from operating a component of a public telecommunications network (fixed or wireless).

The TDL replaced the Telecommunications Service Obligations (TSO) liability allocation process and streamlined the process for industry contributions to the TSO, broadband for rural areas, and other government-led improvements to New Zealand's telecommunications infrastructure.

The Commission is required to prepare an annual TDL liability allocation determination in accordance with subpart 2 of Part 3 of the Telecommunications Act 2001.

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