No competitive services for UBA backhaul links

The Commerce Commission has said that no competitive services have developed for unbundled bitstream access (UBA) backhaul links.

This means all UBA links will remain subject to the terms of the UBA backhaul Standard Terms Determination.

The decision was made as a result of a review by the Commission into whether Telecom faces competition for providing these services.

"Competitive UBA backhaul markets have not developed because of the small number of enhanced UBA services that are being purchased from Telecom. In addition, unlike the unbundled copper local loop (UCLL) backhaul, there is no appropriate commercial service that would allow alternative backhaul providers to aggregate backhaul traffic inside the exchange,” said Dr Ross Patterson, Telecommunications Commissioner.

UBA backhaul service allows other telecommunications companies to supply broadband services to customers without the need to replicate Telecom’s copper local loop.

Where the Commission finds that there is competition on a link, the terms of the UBA backhaul STD will not apply.

But where Telecom is found to face limited competition on a link, the terms of the UBA backhaul STD will apply.

The Commission aims to review of all UBA backhaul links annually.

The final report can be found here.