Commission clears Telecom to acquire radio rights

Media Release

Issued 15 March 2001/26

Commission clears Telecom to acquire radio frequency rights

The Commerce Commission today cleared Telecom to acquire the management rights and licences for which it was the successful bidder in the recent auction of radio frequency spectrum.

Commission Chair John Belgrave said that the Commission was satisfied that Telecom would not acquire or strengthen dominance in any market as a result of it acquiring these rights and licences.

The markets relevant to Telecom's application for clearance are those for mobile telephony services and for third generation mobile telephony services.

In the mobile telephony market, Telecom currently faces strong competition from Vodafone. The third generation market is still in its formative stage and no player is yet providing third generation services.

Mr Belgrave said that the amount of spectrum acquired by Telecom in the auction was not such as to preclude potential competitors from entering either market in the future. He noted that other telecommunication companies, including Vodafone, Clear and TelstraSaturn, were also successful in acquiring rights to significant amounts of the spectrum offered in the auction.

"For these reasons we are satisfied that the proposed acquisition would not result, or would not be likely to result, in any person acquiring or strengthening a dominant position in a market", Mr Belgrave said.

Public copies of the Commission's decision will soon be available from its website, www.comcom.govt.nz, and are available from reception at its Wellington office, level 7 Landcorp House, 101 Lambton Quay.

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