8 December 2004

NZ First Welcomes Telecom Investigation

New Zealand First communications and IT spokesperson Brent Catchpole has welcomed the Commerce Commission’s decision to investigate TelstraClear and Ihug’s applications for a regulated wholesale unbundled bistream internet service.

“New Zealand First has consistently expressed concern about the lack of competitiveness in the telecommunications and broadband market. Contracting difficulties and failure to act on the amendments to the Telecommuncations Act 2001 has prevented real competition in the marketplace, and merely reinforced Telecom’s dominance,” said Mr Catchpole.

“Moves to regulate the broadband market place would ensure the exorbitant pricing policies of the big-players could not continue and that faster internet download speeds could be expected.”

Mr Catchpole said he was also pleased that the Commission will be asking Telecom to provide a complete description of the constraints that prevent it from delivering faster UBS on a wholesale basis, as well as options to overcome the issues.

“For too long now the telecommunications industry has been left to operate without a referee and without rules of the game, which has ensured that Telecom has been able to provide substandard services at an expensive cost to consumers,” concluded Mr Catchpole.

ENDS

© Scoop Media