Commission welcomes UBA Court of Appeal judgement
The Commerce Commission welcomes today’s Court of Appeal judgment in relation to Chorus’ appeal against the Commission’s
November 2013 decision setting benchmarked cost-based prices for the unbundled bitstream access (UBA) service. The
decision upholds the previous High Court decision in April 2014.
Telecommunications Commissioner, Stephen Gale, said, “Today’s decision will allow the Commission and industry to focus
on the cost modelling required to set the UBA price in accordance with the “final pricing principle”. We look forward to
being able to provide a draft decision in early December.”
Background
The Telecommunications Amendment Act 2001 introduced a new cost-based pricing principle for the UBA service, to have
effect from 1 December 2014. The Commission completed a pricing review of the UBA service on 5 November 2013 – setting
forward-looking cost-based prices for the UBA service by benchmarking the additional costs of providing the UBA service.
On 2 December 2013, Chorus appealed the Commission’s November 2013 decision to the High Court on a question of law.
On 8 April 2014, the High Court dismissed Chorus’ appeal. On 11 April 2014, Chorus sought leave to appeal the High
Court’s judgement.
In addition, the Commission received five applications to calculate the price for the additional costs of the UBA
service in accordance with the final pricing principle (FPP) – total service long-run incremental cost (TSLRIC).
Following receipt of these applications, the Commission has commenced the process to determine a cost-based price for
UBA under the FPP.
ends