Commission considers 0867 High Court judgment

Commerce Commission considers 0867 High Court judgment

The Commerce Commission is reviewing the decision released today by the High Court in Auckland in its long-running case against Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited (Telecom).

The Commerce Commission alleged Telecom contravened section 36 of the Commerce Act 1986, when it introduced its 0867 package in 1999.

The Court has found that Telecom did not use its dominant position in the market for fixed line retail telephone services to residential customers or have an anti-competitive purpose when it introduced the 0867 package, so did not contravene section 36.

At the time the 0867 package was introduced, section 36 prohibited persons who held a dominant position in a market from using that position for various purposes, including preventing or deterring competitive conduct by others.

The Commission alleged that in introducing 0867 Telecom sought to prevent or deter competitive conduct by other telecommunications network operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

The Commission is studying the judgment and must decide whether an appeal is appropriate within 20 working days.

There will be no further comment at this stage.

Background

The case against Telecom was filed in 2000.

The 0867 dial-up package meant all residents were charged for calling their ISP unless they dialled the pre-fix 0867. Telecom made the 0867 number range available to other network operators, but only if they agreed the number was not covered by existing interconnection agreements, so that Telecom was no longer required to pay charges relating to those calls.

ENDS

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