8 December 2004
NZ First Welcomes Telecom Investigation
New Zealand First communications and IT spokesperson Brent Catchpole has welcomed the Commerce Commission’s decision to
investigate TelstraClear and Ihug’s applications for a regulated wholesale unbundled bistream internet service.
“New Zealand First has consistently expressed concern about the lack of competitiveness in the telecommunications and
broadband market. Contracting difficulties and failure to act on the amendments to the Telecommuncations Act 2001 has
prevented real competition in the marketplace, and merely reinforced Telecom’s dominance,” said Mr Catchpole.
“Moves to regulate the broadband market place would ensure the exorbitant pricing policies of the big-players could not
continue and that faster internet download speeds could be expected.”
Mr Catchpole said he was also pleased that the Commission will be asking Telecom to provide a complete description of
the constraints that prevent it from delivering faster UBS on a wholesale basis, as well as options to overcome the
issues.
“For too long now the telecommunications industry has been left to operate without a referee and without rules of the
game, which has ensured that Telecom has been able to provide substandard services at an expensive cost to consumers,”
concluded Mr Catchpole.
ENDS