Telstraclear Shows Its True Colours

Telstraclear Shows Its True Colours

TelstraClear’s obsession with regulation and litigation is getting out of hand, Telecom said today.

“They’re clogging up the new regulatory regime with pointless actions that we were happy to resolve through negotiation,” Telecom General Manager Government and Industry Relations Bruce Parkes said today.

“It must be obvious now to the public of New Zealand why Telecom has had such trouble over agreeing anything with TelstraClear – they are never happy.

“Twice this week they have run off to the regulator – first to apply to resell residential phone lines, and now to question the regulator’s own decision on interconnection.

“The Telecommunications Commissioner’s decision on interconnection was so low it was outside even his own initial published range.

“But TelstraClear aren’t even happy with that so they want a price review. It’s clear they’ll never be happy with what they’ve got but will endlessly run to the regulator for more.

“This latest application will cost millions of dollars in fees to lawyers and consultants to sort out. We are probably now spending three times what we ever did in regulatory costs.

“Those costs will be passed on to customers. The customers would be better off if TelstraClear would sit down and negotiate some decent, sensible decisions.

“Telecom is still ready to do that,” Mr Parkes said.

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