The New Zealand Commerce Commission has issued a draft determination for the prices under which Telecom New Zealand must make unbundled copper local loop and co-location regulated services available to other telecommunications providers. The monthly rental charge for the LLU service is NZD 16.49 per month for urban areas and NZD 32.20 for the non-urban areas and the charge to transfer a customer to the unbundled local loop service is NZD 83.70. Comments on the draft determination can be lodged until 29 August and the final determinations will be made in November. Telecom will begin to roll-out the service two months after the final determinations are made, and local loop unbundling will progressively be available six months after the final determinations, the Commission said.
The Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ) was positive about the price announcement but did say that the rural pricing would cause broadband to be much cheaper in urban areas than in rural areas. TUANZ said the urban pricing appeared to be very competitive and expressed confidence the government would look at the broadband situation in rural areas.
InternetNZ (The Internet Society of New Zealand) also welcomed the draft determinations, saying the urban price is competitive. However, InternetNZ also said the rural LLU price of NZD 32.20 per line is high and also said the government would need to come to the table with a rural broadband package.
Internet provider Orcon said it was cautiously optimistic. CEO Scott Bartlett said that the urban pricing, although at the top of the range, would make investments viable and that the company would press ahead with its investment plans. Orcon also questioned the high non-urban pricing ad well as the high price of establishing a new copper loop to a customer's location (NZD 250).
