Providers Want Telecom To Disclose Network Details

8 June 2006

Internet Providers Want Telecom To Disclose Network Details To Government

The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPANZ) has today released two position papers, following the Government's Telecommunications Stock-take report, which it will be discussing with the Government, Telecommunications Commissioner, Ministry of Economic Development and other interested parties.

"The debate has now shifted from 'why there is a need to change' and 'what changes need to be made' to how the Government will implement the proposed changes, including local loop unbundling," says David Diprose, President of ISPANZ.

The papers cover internet providers' concerns on a number of issues that need to be considered, including asking the Government to urgently review Telecom's current network rollout plans.

"Unfortunately it will take some time for the necessary regulation to be put in place and all around the world the incumbent telcos have used this delay to build and modify their networks to make unbundling extremely difficult. If Telecom is serious about embracing the changes then they should start to develop their network to facilitate unbundling.

We'd like to propose that Telecom disclose to the Government information on their current network and proposed network development plans to ensure that internet providers can develop their own plans on comparable terms to Telecom. This is critical for competition to be able to deliver consumers the broadband benefits of unbundling," Diprose says.

The two position papers on local loop unbundling and retail parity are available on the ISPANZ website http://ispanz.org.nz, along with an earlier paper on unconstrained UBS.

ENDS

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