Commission releases draft Telco Development Levy

The Commerce Commission today released its draft determination for the amount 22 telecommunications providers will pay towards the $50 million Telecommunications Development Levy (TDL) for 2012/13.

The government uses the annual levy to pay for telecommunications infrastructure including the relay service for the deaf and hearing-impaired, broadband for rural areas, and improvements to the 111 emergency service.

Telecommunications Commissioner Dr Stephen Gale said the levy — about 1% of revenue — is paid by companies, or groups of companies, earning more than $10 million per year from operating a component of a public telecommunications network (fixed or wireless).

The Commission’s draft liability allocation determination sets out what proportion of the $50 million levy each of these ‘qualifying liable persons’ should pay in proportion to their qualified revenue. Based on the draft determination, approximately 90% of the contributions will be paid by Telecom, Chorus and Vodafone.

In preparing this draft determination, the Commission used an approach consistent with that used for the 2011/12 TDL. Dr Gale noted that this consistency should reduce compliance costs and increase certainty for telecommunications providers.

The Commission anticipates releasing its final determination for the 2012/13 TDL by late December 2013.