ComCom seeks to keep mobile roaming powers as potential new carrier looms

Regulator wants to keep mobile roaming powers as new carrier looms

The Commerce Commission wants to continue regulating mobile roaming. It said so in a paper written for the regular five yearly review of the Commission's powers over the telecommunications industry.

The Telecommunications Act gives the Commission the power to make Spark, Vodafone or 2degrees give any new network operator wholesale access. The idea is that this would allow them to expand beyond the reach of a new, yet to be established physical network.

Telecommunications Commissioner Stephen Gale said in a press release: "National mobile roaming helped 2degrees deliver a nationwide service for its customers from day one, in advance of rolling out its own national network infrastructure. We believe the power to regulate remains an important competition safeguard, especially with 5G networks and potential new entrants on the horizon."

One possible new entrant is Malcolm Dick's Blue Reach. In its Review of National Roaming the Commerce Commission writes:

"The allocation provides a potential opportunity for a new entrant to purchase spectrum. A new mobile provider will almost certainly require a NR arrangement while it rolls out. We note that Blue Reach Services has entered as a fourth provider and has publically stated intentions to roll-out 5G."

In earlier media interviews Dick described Blue Reach as a 5G wholesaler that would offer services similar to the failed Woosh Wireless business.

The Commerce Commission has called for submissions on the issue to before July 30. It expects to release a final decision on September 4.

Northpower Fibre uptake hits 50 percent

Northpower says its fibre network uptake has passed the halfway mark. Over 11,500 are connected to the company's Whangarei UFB network out of a possible 22,700 premises.

The company says 11 percent of the connections are businesses while 88 percent are homes. By 2022, the network will reach a total of around 33,000 homes and premises across Kaipara and Whangarei.

NZ online shopping up 13 percent in 2017

A report commissioned by NZ Post says New Zealanders spent $3.6 billion online in 2017. That's up 13 percent on 2016. It says online shipping now accounts for 8.1 percent of all retail spending.

The total number of online transactions was up 23 percent.The report says this shows people are now buying smaller value items and shopping online more frequently.

Perhaps not surprisingly given its relative remoteness, the Gisborne region recorded the fastest growth. Online sales there climbed 19 percent.

Not all the wealth went overseas. NZ Post says New Zealand retailers saw an increase in online sales of nine percent. This was much more than the less than one percent growth in traditional retail stores.

PSTN goes as Spark moves users off copper

Spark says it has switched on an Ericsson IP multimedia subsystem: the first major milestone as it moves from the old public switched telephone network (PSTN) to a voice network based on the all-digital internet protocol.

The new network is known as Converged Communications Network of CCN. CCN differs from PSTN by handling mobilel and fibre calls as well as landlines. PSTN was strictly landline only. The new network can handle calls from devices including mobile phones, tablets and laptops.

Spark has now decommissioned about 10 percent of the PSTN network. It says 72 automated telephone switches have been removed from exchanges since the transition away from PSTN started two years ago.

Technology director Mark Beder says: “More of our customers are choosing to upgrade to fibre or wireless connections and we see the demand for popular streaming services like Lightbox and Netflix as great reasons to move to faster broadband services with Spark.”

Last month Spark said more than half its customers had moved from copper to newer network technologies.

Overcharging puts Spark in court

The Commerce Commission has laid 11 charges against Spark for overcharging customers. The prosecution is under the Fair Trading Act.

Spark managing director Simon Moutter says the charges come from three genuine mistakes. He says Spark has tried to put these right by providing credits to remaining customers and paying back those who had parted company.