Orcon to present views on Telecom separation

Orcon to present further views on Telecom separation

Orcon is urging the MED (Ministry of Economic Development) to consider three main points when separating Telecom New Zealand; new services, equivalence of input, and the separation of Telecom into three entities.

In the Auckland based telecommunications company¹s submission on the operational separation of Telecom, Orcon highlighted that new services such as Unbundled Bitstream Access (UBA) and LLU (local loop unbundling) need to be set as a top priority and should be placed before specific operational separation requirements. > ³We see that new services such as UBA and LLU are vital to the growth of all Telcos in New Zealand, as well as to the development of the New Zealand economy and increased competition in the marketplace² said Scott Barlett, General Manager of Orcon.

The second point in Orcon¹s submission is that there needs to be Equivalence of Input (EOI). "We see that the most efficient and logical way to push for equivalence is to create an Equivalence of Input Roadmap. The roadmap would need to set firm milestones for EOI for new services, existing unbundled products (e.g. UBS, UNS, UPC etc) and legacy PSTN (POTS, frame, ATN etc)" continued Bartlett.

Orcon¹s third point is that Telecom needs to be separated into three operational units, ideally an Access Network Services Unit (ANS) a Wholesale Unit and a Retail Unit. Each unit should be assigned a separate CEO who reports directly to the Board of Directors.

Orcon has also been considering Telecom¹s revised Structural Separation plan; and will be making a subsequent submission on this subject by the 15th of May.

"In a structural separation environment we envisage the ANS unit owning all access assets including fibre and fixed wireless which the ANS unit will then sell access to on equal terms to Telecom Wholesale and other access seekers. ANS also needs to have a regulated return on its assets that is enough for continued investment into deploying more networks, more fibre, and more copper, while still allowing for the asset to be marketable, however we have not yet become firm in our view that this model is superior to operation separation." continued Bartlett.

The Minister of Communications has invited written views and comments on Telecom's structural separation proposal to be submitted to the Ministry of Economic Development no later than 5:00pm on Tuesday 15 May 2007.

"Overall we feel that Telecoms consultation document answers a lot of the baseline questions Orcon has with regard to structural separation, however we are concerned that making errors in the separation process could be felt by the industry for decades. What the Government does over the next six months will shape Telecommunications in New Zealand for the next quarter century!² concluded Bartlett.

About Orcon Orcon is New Zealand¹s 4th largest ISP, largest 100% kiwi owned ISP and the third largest internet wholesaler in New Zealand. Currently we employ over 100 people in our four offices and we connect over 100,000 New Zealand businesses and homes to the internet. In addition we maintain a small presence in Australia for our trans-Tasman corporate clients. We provide a range of services including UBS, ADSL, fibre and frame relay, and we are presently deploying a Siemens IP-voice based soft-switch (Surpass HiQ8000) as well as building NZ¹s most advanced data centre on Auckland¹s North Shore.

ENDS

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