Published on the 15/04/2016 | Written by Newsdesk

The Government has announced a number of high-level policy decisions on the future regulation of the telecommunications sector, in a bid to achieve its 2025 targets…

Communications Minister Amy Adams said in a statement that the communications sector is vastly different to the market in 2001 when the Telecommunications Act was introduced, and that “it’s time for our laws to catch up”.

Digital technologies are transforming the way New Zealanders live, work and do business. The Government has stated that 99 percent of New Zealanders will have access to peak broadband speeds of 50 Mbps, while the remainder will have access to speeds of at least 10 Mbps by 2025.

“We need the right laws in place to make sure high quality and affordable communication services are available for consumers and businesses,” she said.

Changes to the regulation of fixed-line networks will provide investors with certainty and ensure consumers are protected once the UFB build contracts expire.

Key policy decisions include:

• Moving to a utility-style model (with ‘building blocks’ pricing) for regulating wholesale services on the copper and UFB networks
• Considering ways to better support competition in the mobile market
• Retaining the current ‘unbundling’ requirements to promote innovation on the UFB network from 2020
• Ruling out any changes to the regulation of broadcasting infrastructure.

Telecommunications Users Association CEO, Craig Young, was restrained in his welcome of the announcement. He said the decisions were generally in line with the submission TUANZ made to the discussion document last year, but until more details are released the true impact of the decisions cannot be fully understood.

He said TUANZ is “generally supportive” of the move to the utility style regulations and that the decision to consult on competition in the mobile sector is a positive one.  According to the statement, TUANZ believes this review is critical to ensure that all the relevant tools are in place to ensure that competition and coverage continue to improve in Rural New Zealand in line with their goal of high quality, ubiquitous connectivity across the country.

Minister Adams noted that, thanks to digital convergence there is significant competition in the broadcasting sector, therefore it will remain unregulated.

More information can be found at www.mbie.govt.nz/telcoreview.