Download Weekly: ComCom fixes fibre wholesale rules

ComCom finalises non-discrimination guidance

The Commerce Commission has released its final guidance on the obligations of wholesale service providers. 

The guidance focuses on two key principles: equivalence and non-discrimination.

Equivalence means providers must offer the same terms to all parties, including their own retail arms.  Non-discrimination means they can't play favourites with retail service providers.

The guidance will influence the development of unbundled fibre services. Since the start of the year, fibre wholesalers have been required to offer unbundled layer one fibre to retail service providers on equivalent and non-discriminatory terms.

Chorus, Enable, UFF and Northpower have all published their proposed offers. 

The Commission is now investigating whether the non-price terms of the offers meet regulatory requirements.  

In its guidance ,the Commission explains how it will monitor and enforce obligations. 

Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson says: “We strongly encourage fibre providers to review their product offerings against the guidance we have issued and to make any changes necessary to bring them into compliance as quickly as possible.

"We also encourage retailers to raise issues with the LFCs where they believe the product offerings are not meeting the required obligations.” 

Enable brings forward maiden dividend

Enable says it aims to deliver a $13.5 million dividend to its owner, Christchurch City, in June 2021. It will be the company's first dividend and will be delivered a year earlier than anticipated. 

AWS adds New Zealand edge location

Amazon Web Services has launched a cloud edge location in Auckland. It says this will give customers an up to 50 percent improvement in latency when data is pushed through the location. The edge location includes a content delivery network and direct connections to telco networks including those from Vodafone, Spark, 2degrees, Vocus, Kordia, Trustpower and the NZ Internet Exchange. 

Mobile phone uses fret over security

A report from HMD Global says over half of NZ mobile users are concerned about phone security. HMD Global is the company behind the revived Nokia phone brand.

The report says 35 percent admit they don't have a clue where their data is stored. And 27 percent say they don't understand how phone makers handle customer data. One third of users are either unsure about the importance of phone security patches or say it isn't important to run the latest phone operating system.  

Aotearoa here to stay as Vodafone commits to te reo

Vodafone says it has committed to more use of the name Aotearoa. It changed the network carrier banner that appears on handset headers to VF Aotearoa at the end of Māori Language Week. This week a customer complained publicly on Twitter about the change saying he would change his carrier if the banner stayed. Both 2degrees and Spark moved to support their rival. 

Slingshot offers used modems to shrink e-waste 

Vocus-owned Slingshot will let new customers choose to take a used modem. The move will reduce electronic waste. At present many ISPs offer customers a new modem on sign-up even though many consumers have suitable devices.

Vocus is working with Keep New Zealand Beautiful to promote the campaign and to raise funds. Slingshot CEO Taryn Hamilton says in most cases the modems are in perfect working order, although they may have a few scratches and bumps.