Time for independent oversight and transparency in govt broadband scheme

Labour has today called for Telecommunications Commissioner Ross Patterson to be given an independent oversight role in the government’s ultrafast broadband (UFB) scheme.

Labour’s Communications and IT spokesperson Clare Curran said that there was a real of a lack of transparency, confused governance and increasing uncertainty about how the decision is being made to spend $1.5 billion of taxpayer money.

Clare Curran said that following Telecom’s revised bid for the UFB money yesterday the goalposts had shifted to the extent that the original intention of the government was now submerged in speculation about Telecom’s future.

“Other bidders have spent millions of dollars on bids for the UFB project in good faith,” Clare Curran said. “Telecom’s conditional about-face to structurally separate if it gets the UFB project has changed the game to the point where there are now too many questions about how the decision will be made and what discussions are happening behind closed doors.

“It's also unclear who the final decision maker will be: Is it the CFH Board, the Minister who may be required to intervene to support the structural separation propos, or the regulator, who in the 2006 legislation was empowered to take a forward looking view?

Telecom yesterday confirmed its plan to split its wholesale and retail divisions in order to take part in the UFB project. However its plans depended on whether it would get the UFB contract.

“Questions about Telecom’s role in the UFB project have dominated discussion about New Zealand’s ability to embrace broadband for many months now,” she said.

“Crown Fibre Holdings, the body charged with making a decision on the UFB contract, is an infrastructure company. It has no ability to determine a vision, no policies and no strategic element.

"Telecom's statement yesterday wanting to 'integrate the UFB (overseen by CFH and a 'co-investment') with the Rural Broadband Initiative (a grant scheme being driven by the MED) and funded by the new look Telecommunications Service Obligations (overseen by the Commerce Commission) shows what a confusing regulatory alphabet soup the Government's cornerstone broadband policy is becoming.

"Is the Government going to give priority to saving Telecom from itself or is their priority to create the platform for NZ to move forward with?

“Communications Minister Steven Joyce should now consider changing the governance process for the UFB decision and to involve the independent Commerce Commission ensure public confidence in the process. At the very least Steven Joyce should remove himself from decisions about Telecom's requests for variations to its operational separation agreement with the government.

“Telecommunications Commissioner Dr Ross Patterson has sufficient credibility and experience within the industry to bring independent oversight and objectivity into the process and to be mindful of New Zealand’s long term interests in developing our future in broadband.

“Otherwise there is likely to be a cloud over the broadband decision. Whatever the outcome, how can the public have confidence that Telecom is not somehow holding our country to ransom with its machinations in a bid to secure as much value for its shareholders as possible in the securing the broadband contract?

“New Zealand’s interests are paramount, not the Telecom shareholders and the government should recognise this and ensure that New Zealanders are put first in whatever decision is arrived at on broadband,” Clare Curran said.

ENDS

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