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Leader's LetterJune 2006
NZ’s Telecommunications Steps into the 21st CenturyWhile some called it a budget leak, we in New Zealand First prefer to call the announcement of local loop unbundling as unfinished business which can finally be put to bed. On 3 May the Government announced it would require the unbundling of the local loop. This was in response to concerns about the low levels of broadband uptake. Regulatory action such as information disclosure, accounting separation of Telecom business operations, and enhanced Commerce Commission monitoring was also announced. Back in 1998 it was New Zealand First and the Treasurer of the day who put unbundling on the table. We instituted a review of the adequacy of competition in the telecommunications industry. The Shipley government, however, rejected the idea, and New Zealand has steadily slipped behind in the uptake of key technologies as a result. Now New Zealand is one of the most expensive countries in the OECD for users of mobile phones, and the comparison becomes even less favourable as usage levels increase. Broadband services to our rural regions aren’t nearly as good as they could be.
It is absolutely clear that there is a desperate need for regulatory intervention in the telecommunications arena in order to create real competition. Unbundling access to the local loop in order to create competition in local access is the key policy instrument needed to ensure competitive access to the individual consumer, the home worker and to business. So now that unbundling is back on the table, New Zealand First will be working to finally see it become a reality so that our telecommunications can move into the 21st century. It is essential that detailed and practical arrangements are made to ensure nondiscriminatory provision of access to the loop; and that the terms for access to the unbundled elements of the local loop must be cost-oriented, transparent and non-discriminatory. The Government must also ensure that this does not only deliver benefits to big city New Zealand, but that those same services reach all the way down to the country roads. The unbundling of the local loop has taken too long, but is a large and enabling step for New Zealand business, consumers and innovation. Brian Donnelly MP
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