TSO Figure Released At AST

TSO Figure Released At AST

It is good for the sake of rural customers throughout New Zealand that the cost of delivering the Telecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) has finally been decided, Telecom said today.

It is good for the sake of rural customers throughout New Zealand that the cost of delivering the Telecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) has finally been decided, Telecom said today.

“Telecom is strongly committed to our rural customers throughout New Zealand and the TSO is an acknowledgement of that commitment,” Telecom General Manager Government & Industry Relations Bruce Parkes said.

“We’ve been waiting for this figure for a long time, and it is good to have the issue finally resolved.

“The telecommunications industry now knows the Commerce Commission’s assessment of the cost and we can all get on with the job of delivering for our customers,” Mr Parkes said.

“There’s been a lot of debate to get to this point and we’re pleased to see that the Commerce Commission has made some movement on one of our big concerns – its estimate of the cost of capital required to make this investment.

“That figure has been revised from 6.0% to 7.1%. We still believe that’s far too low given the huge changes the industry is going through.

“We don’t believe that this assessment of the TSO is anything like a realistic measure of the true costs.

“However, Telecom’s stance on this matter has been to put up the best case we can and then get on with the job of focusing on customers,” Mr Parkes said.

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