"Labour embraced early the need to move to a knowledge-based economy and will make that commitment the centre-piece of
its economic policy in government," Labour commerce spokesperson Paul Swain said today.
"A well-functioning telecommunications system is essential to this vision. We simply cannot tolerate any roadblocks on
the information super-highway.
"Labour is therefore perturbed that New Zealand's telecommunications market is not functioning as well as it should.
"The latest evidence of the market's poor performance is a report from the Australian Productivity Commission this year
comparing New Zealand to Finland, Sweden, Britain, Australia, the United States, Canada, France and Japan," Mr Swain
said.
Key findings of the study were:
· That New Zealand was "by a significant margin," the worst performing country in terms of price with prices between 47
percent and 181 percent higher than the best performing countries.
· That New Zealand ranked at the bottom for four of the six services measured, including business telephone services and
residential mobile services. On the remaining two services - residential telephone and business mobile - it was ranked
second to bottom.
"No government that cares about New Zealand's economic future can afford to be complacent about those results.
"For this reason the incoming Labour Government will order an inquiry into the telecommunications sector. Subjects to be
canvassed will include: interconnection agreements, an independent numbering plan, number portability, bundled services
and access to the Internet under the Kiwi Share obligations.
"The inquiry, which will be set up as a matter of priority, will be given a six months deadline. Part of the brief will
be to recommend whether a new regulatory regime is needed to secure fairer competition and a better deal for the
consumer," Mr Swain said.