Welcome back, Commissioner
The big news on the regulatory front is that Dr Ross Patterson will return to the fold as Telecommunication Commissioner.Patterson was away for nine months with health issues. He is well liked in the industry and Telecommunications Review would like to welcome him back to the Commerce Commission.Meanwhile, there are a number of ongoing regulatory issues on the boil at the Commission, as well as a number of potential new issues.Telecom’s VDSL tussleThe Commerce Commission has received a complaint from an access seeker or seekers, that Telecom’s VDSL service from the cabinet should be a regulated service. It’s understood that Telecom Wholesale is trying to sell the product as a premium or unregulated service. Access seekers claim that the product should be treated as any other wholesale product and be subject to regulated prices.The Commission has yet to form an official opinion on this. If the Commission finds in favour of the complainants it will have to consider whether it makes changes to existing regulated services.Wholesale’s loyalty offerFollowing complaints, the Commission is looking at whether it will begin an investigation on Telecom’s ‘loyalty’ offer under the Commerce Act.Telecom’s watchdog, the Independent Oversight Group (IOG) has been conducting an investigation and should have come to a conclusion by the time this story is published.Telecom last year released an Auckland-only offer to its wholesale customers. The deal comes with conditions that may be limiting some of Telecom’s wholesale customers and/or other wholesale providers such as Vodafone. It now says it will now extend the product to five other North Island centres.We want Home Zone too Following Vodafone’s Home Zone deal with Telecom, which involved the Commission, 2degrees wanted a similar deal to allow it to offer local calling rates via mobiles when used in a designated ‘home zone’.However, talks between 2degrees and Telecom apparently broke down, so 2degrees complained to the Commission. Since then, it is understood that Telecom and 2degrees have reached a commercial agreement. If this is the case, it’s unlikely that the Commission will begin an investigation.Mobile Termination RatesSubmissions on the Commission’s mobile termination rate draft report recommending regulation were mixed.In revised undertakings, Telecom offered to lower its MTRs for access seekers from 15 cents per minute to 7 cents per minute by 2015. The company is still critical about the way the Commission arrived at its decision to drastically lower MTRs.With more to lose, Vodafone came out more aggressively. It continues to focus on the Commission’s cost calculation analysis, supporting its findings with analysis from a UK consultancy firm. The carrier claims the existing commercial, “solutions-based” offer is more effective than regulation.Meanwhile, Vodafone continues to push 2degrees to release commercial information pertaining to its MTR deal. 2degrees refuses. According to Vodafone, 2degrees will be paying Vodafone lower MTRs than current public rates. Telecom however, will be charging 2degrees the same amounts for termination of calls and texts as Vodafone.The Commission should also have begun an investigation into whether mobile roaming services should be regulated to include price, by the time this story is printed.Telecommunications Service Obligation or KiwiShareTelecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) levies for 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 should have been made public by the time this story is printed. By the time the levies are published, the Commission will have also kicked off a review of the 2008-2009 process.
