IT Brief New Zealand - Technology news for CIOs & IT decision-makers
Story image
Commerce Commission seeks feedback on NZ's internet backhaul services
Mon, 15th Aug 2016
FYI, this story is more than a year old

The Commerce Commission is looking for feedback on 'domestic backhaul services', or how internet traffic is sent and received between major exchanges, the 600 local exchanges and internet service providers.

The discussion paper aims to discover if the services are up-to-date with the state of the telecommunications market and whether they need to be changed to promote competition and long-term customer benefit.

Currently, Chorus, Spark, Vodafone, Vector and other regional network provider companies such as CityLink and local fibre companies such as Northpower and Ultra-fast Fibre all own 'significant' network assets to support wholesalers or their own operations, the paper says.

The Commerce Commission also says backhaul is not limited to internet traffic, as it also carries mobile and fixed wireless site traffic back to the service providers.

"In a telecommunications network the backhaul portion of the network comprises the links between the core network and access nodes – the “edges” of the network", the discussion paper states.

“Backhaul services are a key component of the telecommunications market and critical for ensuring New Zealanders can benefit from access to quality broadband services. We want to explore whether the current regulatory regime is fit for purpose, so we would like to hear from anyone with an interest in this sector,” says Commissioner Dr Stephen Gale.

Parties wishing to provide feedback have until 23 September 2016 to make responses. Read the discussion paper here.