Draft Interconnection Determination

Issued 2 September 2002

Commission Releases International Benchmarking Report And Draft Interconnection Determination

The Commerce Commission today released two key documents relating to its responsibilities under the Telecommunications Act 2001. The Commission has published an International Benchmarking report in the form of a comparative review of interconnection prices, and has issued a draft of its determination on the interconnection dispute between TelstraClear Limited and Telecom New Zealand Limited. The determination deals with the price and non-price terms for interconnection of the two networks.

Both documents are available from the Commission’s website, www.comcom.govt.nz.

Osmond Borthwick, Manager of the Commission’s Network Access Group, said the international benchmarking report provides a range of interconnection prices from comparable countries and some U.S. states. The Commission will rely on that range to fix the interconnection price for traffic passing between the Telecom and TelstraClear fixed networks.

He explained that releasing a draft of its determination was an additional element to the process, initiated by the Commission.

“The Commission hopes that issuing a draft of its determination will assist understanding and add transparency to the process it is applying in considering the application. The Commission encourages submissions on the draft both from Telecom and TelstraClear as well as from the industry.”
The deadline for submissions on the draft determination is 9 September 2002. The Commission will hold a conference to discuss those submissions on 16-17 September.

Website information
Draft Determination plus Annex – www.comcom.govt.nz/telecommunications/
International Benchmarking Report – www.comcom.govt.nz/telecommunications/decisions/

Background
The Telecommunications Act provides for the Commission to use International Benchmarking when making an initial pricing determination. The Commission’s survey describes the methodology for benchmarking interconnection prices and compares prices across comparable overseas jurisdictions.

TelstraClear Limited applied to the Commission for an access determination under the Act in respect of interconnection services on May 16 2002. On June 18, the Commission announced it would investigate TelstraClear’s application regarding interconnection with Telecom’s network and reciprocal interconnection by Telecom with the TelstraClear network.

Commission media releases can be viewed on its web site www.comcom.govt.nz

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