The New Zealand Commerce Commission is investigating whether Telecom New Zealand’s wholesale unit discriminated against its rivals, breaching the terms of the company’s structural separation.
As part of New Zealand’s Ultra Fast Broadband project, the…
The New Zealand Commerce Commission is investigating whether Telecom New Zealand’s wholesale unit discriminated against its rivals, breaching the terms of the company’s structural separation.
As part of New Zealand’s Ultra Fast Broadband project, the government has asked the company to demerge its wholesale and retail operations in order to improve competition in the market.
“The Commission’s concerns arise from the price at which Telecom Wholesale offered the unbundled bitstream access (UBA) service to telecommunications providers who intended to take up the sub-loop extension service (SLES) from Chorus, compared with the price Telecom Wholesale charged to Telecom Retail,” said the Commission in a statement.
Earlier this year, “the Commission advised Telecom of its concerns that Telecom Wholesale’s offer was discriminatory. Telecom responded that it did not believe that Telecom Wholesale was in any way in breach of its non-discrimination obligations,” said Dr Ross Patterson, Telecommunications Commissioner.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of March 2011.
