Commerce Commission clears Infratil’s Vodafone acquisition

The Commerce Commission has given Infratil the go ahead to acquire a 50 percent stake in Vodafone. 

Although Infratil owns 51 percent of Trustpower, New Zealand’s fourth largest broadband provider, the watchdog says the Vodafone deal would not substantially lessen competition for broadband and mobile services.

Commerce Commission chair Anna Rawlings says: "While Trustpower has in the past been an aggressive competitor in residential broadband, with a particular focus on energy and broadband bundles, several other multi-utility providers have similarly emerged including Vocus, Nova Energy and Contact Energy. 

“2Degrees and Stuff are also competing effectively in the residential broadband market alongside Spark and MyRepublic.” 

Stay independent

The commission says Infratil had submitted the two companies would operate independently and it accepts this is likely. However, its competition analysis was based on the assumption that the businesses of Trustpower and Vodafone could be combined.

"Vodafone and Trustpower are not each other’s closest competitors and even in regions where they would hold high market shares, such as Bay of Plenty and Wellington, they will face effective competition from several other national operators.

“Consistent with the mobile market study preliminary findings, we consider competition in mobile markets is generally driven by the three network operators and is therefore unlikely to be affected by Infratil’s acquisition.” 

In May, Infratil and Brookfield, a Canadian asset management company agreed to pay $3.4 billion to buy Vodafone. The deal subject to approval by the Commerce Commission and the NZ Overseas Investment Office. At the time there was some discussion around Infratil holding a substantial stake in both Vodafone and Trustpower and a suggestion it may sell down its Trustpower investment to get the deal past the regulator. 

Spark Sport adds Apple TV app

Spark has added its Spark Sport app to the Apple TV app store. The software works with both the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD versions.

Jeff Latch, head of Spark Sport says the app means customers can now watch the company’s streaming sport service on iPhone, iPad and Android devices, Google Chromecast, Samsung Smart TV and Apple TV. Further devices will be added in the coming weeks including Android TV devices and more Smart TVs.

New Zealand smart cities win Asia-Pac awards

Virtual Wellington, a virtual reality version of the capital, has won the Civic Engagement category at the IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards 2019. The project allows Wellingtonians to interact online with city data to understand urban issues and futures. It covers all of Wellington City along with the surrounding metropolitan councils.

Two other New Zealand projects won awards: Spark’s Madden Street which highlights the neighbourhood’s 5G features and Vector’s Will Digital Teacher which educates school students about energy. 

Two in five companies use cloud email

Research firm Gartner says 43 percent of public companies in New Zealand now use either Google’s Gmail or Microsoft’s Office 365 Cloud mail services. This compares with almost 47 percent in Australia.

Gartner says businesses in New Zealand and Australia are the keenest adopters of cloud-based mail services. Worldwide around one in four companies uses public cloud-based mail, but 70 percent use some form of cloud service to deliver and receive email. Microsoft is more popular in New Zealand and dominates with larger companies while Gmail is preferred by smaller business.