Trans-Tasman cable gets regulatory green light

When Spark, Vodafone and Telstra announced plans to lay a NZ$90 million submarine cable under the Tasman Tom Pullar-Strecker reported for Stuff on a potential regulatory hurdle.

Today the Commerce Commission confirmed it had looked at plans for the Trans-Global Access project and said there are no competition issues at this stage. It went on to say it won’t be investigating further.

At the time of the announcement, Pullar-Strecker reported the Commerce Commission would look into the competition implications. He quoted comments from Spark chief executive Simon Moutter who said there were no competition concerns.

Alarm bells rang in some quarters because Spark is a major shareholder in the TGA cable owning close to 50 percent. Spark also owns 50 percent in the Southern Cross Cable Network.

There are fears the TGA reduces the likelihood of another international submarine cable project being built, preserving Spark’s dominant market position in international cables in and out of New Zealand.