Telcos Resolve Local And Internet Traffic Dispute

Telcos Resolve Local And Internet Traffic Dispute

LOCAL AND INTERNET TRAFFIC HANDLING – TELCOS RESOLVE DISPUTE

Telecom and TelstraClear have reached commercial agreement over many of the interconnection determination issues currently being considered by the Commerce Commission.

The agreements, which will be included as agreed terms in the Commission’s determination, include:

· Pure bill and keep for all local calls including Internet and voice calling and 0873 and 0867 number ranges;

· Route splitting of all Internet calls, allowing for the more efficient management of data calls between the carriers’ networks;

· Arrangements for Interconnect capacity; and

· A new billing model between the carriers for calls to 0900 type numbers.

The pure bill and keep arrangement means TelstraClear and Telecom will not charge each other for local calls including voice and Internet calls. The arrangement removes the contentious issues between the two carriers related to Internet traffic.

The arrangement will also see data calls, primarily relating to the Internet, managed on TelstraClear’s dedicated network for such calls.

TelstraClear Chief Executive Rosemary Howard said moving data traffic to data networks was a sensible outcome for both carriers and would benefit Internet users through more suitable management of calls. The combined effect of these agreements will provide a more open system between Telecom and TelstraClear for the delivery of services to customers.

Telecom Chief Operating Officer New Zealand Simon Moutter said Telecom was pleased that the bill and keep agreement had resolved an issue which had been contentious for about five years. This agreement showed that commercial negotiation was a good way to resolve issues in the best interests of customers, Mr Moutter said.

When added to last week’s agreement resolving historical disputes, these new agreements provide the opportunity for both companies to focus on customer needs.

NOTE: Each of the agreed issues has been removed from the agenda for next week’s Interconnection Conference before the Commerce Commission. The only substantial issue left before the Commission is toll bypass.

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