New Zealand is viewing its telco market through “rose tinted glasses” and needs to get real about data caps, peering issues and the dominance of Sky TV, says a visiting Canadian academic.
Consumers and SMEs are reluctant to upgrade to faster internet connections due to perceived costs of rewiring homes and premises, says a Commerce Commission <a href="http://www.comcom.govt.nz/high-speed-broadband-services-demand-side-study">paper</a> released today.
New Zealand's broadband pricing is improving, but fixed line voice services cost significantly more than the OECD average, according to a report released by the Commerce Commission.
The Commerce Commission and Telecom have reached a settlement over the incorrect charging of some broadband customers between November 2010 and June 2011. To date, Telecom has refunded overcharged customers more than $2.7 million.
The settlement document can be viewed on the Commission's website.
Stuart Wallace, Commerce Commission Competition Manager, says in a statement: “We’re pleased to have reached a settlement with Telecom and that they have made prompt refunds directly back to the customers who have lost out.
“Telecom brought this issue to our attention as soon as they were made aware by their customers and have co-operated fully with the Commission. Due to Telecom’s immediate admission of a breach of the Fair Trading Act, followed by appropriate compensation to customers, the settlement is the best possible outcome for those customers and avoids potentially lengthy and costly court hearings paid for by taxpayers."
Telecom says the inaccurate readings affected approximately 97,000 customers and were due to a software fault in broadband usage meters.
The result of the inaccurate readings was that around 47,000 of the customers were impacted in one or more of the following ways:
The Commerce Commission has reached a $31.6 million settlement with Telecom over alleged discrimination under the Telecom Separation Undertakings.
The Commerce Commission has announced this morning that it will issue proceedings against Telecom regarding the Telecom Separation Undertakings.
The Commerce Commission has released its decision on mobile termination rates, the charges telcos levy on one another for transferring calls between their networks.
Telecom has overvalued a number of key assets, including its access network, the Commerce Commission says.
Telecom’s total share of the local telecommunications market fell to 57 percent last year, a loss of almost two percentage points compared with the 2008-2009 year.
The Commerce Commission has confirmed that that the date for the release of the Mobile Termination Access Service STD has been deferred until May 5.
On March 15 and 16 the telcos assembled their teams of lawyers and experts in a conference room at an Auckland hotel to argue before the Commerce Commission their case as to how they think mobile termination rates should be regulated.
Telecom could be hit with compensation claims from providers, after the Commerce Commission clarified that Telecom Wholesale couldn’t charge access seekers different rates for its sub-loop extension service (SLES) and unbundled bitstream access (UBA) than it does for its retail division.
The Commerce Commission announced today it has launched an investigation into an alleged breach of Separation Undertakings by Telecom.
The Commerce Commission has taken another step in the determination of mobile termination rates, issuing a notice to Vodafone to prepare a standard terms proposal for terminating mobile calls and text messages.
In an announcement on the NZX website, the Commission notes: "This proposal will specify the non-price terms and conditions on which mobile termination services should be made available to both mobile and fixed line operators.
"The price of the mobile termination access services (MTAS) will be specified by the Commission.
The Commerce Commission has begun the process for determining the wholesale price for terminating mobile calls and text messages, following the decision in August by the Communications and IT minister Steven Joyce to accept the Commission’s recommendation to amend the Telecommunications Act 2001 to allow the regulation of mobile termination access services.