Minister David Cunliffe dismisses fears that work on the operational separation of Telecom is stalling LLU and Naked DSL.
I caught up with him at the launch of the open access fibre network on the North Shore which is funded jointly by the Government under its Broadband Challenge and Vector.
I asked for his response to concerns by some ISPs in today’s Herald that work on LLU and Naked DSL may be delayed in favour of Operational Separation.
“Absolutely not, there appears to be a misconception in the minds of some not well informed individuals – LLU is on a fast track by the Commerce Commission,” he said.
“I have always maintained that LLU is an absolute precondition to a competitive telecommunications market. I have always been personally very keen to see it rolled out as fast as possible. However what some may have missed is that unless we have a thorough separation as well, there will always be an ability, and an incentive, for an incumbent to slow down and/or minimize the actual uptake of local loops.
Our modelling and research work done by the stocktake process last year made clear that the best gains occurred when LLU and separation were done together. They are not alternatives. Different people are doing them (MED and Commerce Commission) so there is no necessary trade off - Telecom will need to do both.”
The Minister described the current reforms as a “busy, busy agenda”. In addition to LLU, Naked DSL and Operational Separation, there is the Broadband Challenge, the TSO review and the re-auction of spectrum in mobile and wireless broadband.
All this, and a Telecommunications Commissioner due to retire in July. The Minister says an announcement on who will replace Douglas Webb is due soon. When I asked if it had been tough finding someone with the right qualifications, he replied:
“It’s an important appointment, we were thorough and we did a worldwide search.”
* Submissions on the Government’s draft proposal for operational separation of Telecom are due tomorrow.