Frank March is both a Ministry of Economic Development official and president of InternetNZ. In part two of this Q and A with Stephen Bell he talks about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, whether InternetNZ will move into the telco user space and he considers the departing Telecom CEO's view of regulation.
In part two of our Q and A with departing Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds, he revisits the outages that plagued the XT network six months after its launch in 2009. He also discusses New Zealand's regulatory landscape, Telecom's deal with Sky TV, and what he might do when he leaves the telco.
When Paul Reynolds was appointed CEO of Telecom in 2007 the company was required to open up its access network to competitors and to operationally separate into three divisions. The following year the National government was elected, promising to fund a fibre to the home network. Telecom was pitted against the lines companies for the contracts, and was told it had to structurally separate if it wanted to take part. Late last year, following shareholder approval, the company was split and Chorus listed on the NZX. Having announced he will be leaving the company, Reynolds has been staying on until a successor is appointed. He talks to Sarah Putt about his five years as the boss of Telecom.
Telecom shareholders have voted to approve the structural separation of Telecom and Chorus.
An independent report by Grant Samuel included in a 532-page scheme booklet sent to Telecom’s shareholders yesterday recommends that the proposed demerger take place, despite risks for investors post-merger.