Vocus sale puts NZ IPO on hold

MIRA, Aware Super acquire Australian parent company

Australia's Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) and Aware Super Pty have agreed to buy Vocus for A$3.5 billion. The deal is subject to shareholder approval, court and regulatory approvals.

MIRA and Aware Super have formed the Voyage Australia consortium to manage taking the business into private ownership.

The move has implications for the proposed float of the company's New Zealand business which was due to take place later this year. Vocus' New Zealand brands include Slingshot, CallPlus and Orcon among others.

Vocus is New Zealand's third largest broadband service provider after Spark and Vodafone.

Float of Vocus New Zealand on hold

At the time the board accepted the bid, Vocus chairman Bob Mansfield said: "...the board considered a range of alternatives, including the execution of our existing strategy under which the proceeds of an initial public offer of Vocus New Zealand would reduce debt and be invested in our core business."

As the agreement completed, Vocus said it would put the planned IPO of the New Zealand operation on hold.

Yet a report in the Australian Financial Review reports on comments by Vocus chief executive Kevin Russell who says the IPO could still go ahead later this year. He also suggested the New Zealand operation was poised to benefit if there are market consolidation opportunities.

A report in CommsDay says the Voyage consortium may also consider investing in New Zealand opportunities.

Samsung enters 5G network market as Spark partner

Samsung has built a 5G network for Spark in Christchurch. It's the company's first network installation in New Zealand and a change of direction for Spark which partnered with Huawei for its 4G network.

The change comes after Huawei failed to pass GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau ) scrutiny under the TICSA rules (Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security Act 2013). That slowed Spark's original plan for substantial 5G network rollout in 2020.

Samsung is one of two Spark 5G network build partners. Spark is taking a multivendor approach using Samsung in certain locations and working with Nokia elsewhere.

Spark is using Samsung's Massive MIMO radio technology, which are lighter, slimmer radios. It says these are ideal for a fast network roll out and where space is at a premium.

Mobile carriers fall in behind ComCom transparency call

Mobile carriers have agreed to give customer annual summaries of their spending and usage patterns. They will also nudge customers towards plans that better suit their usage. There will be comparison tools to help mobile customers make more meaningful comparisons between plans from other service providers.

These moves follow research carried out last year by the Commerce Commission which found 25 percent of mobile customers could move to cheaper plans that would save them money. A small number, seven percent, were spending an average of almost $50 a month more than necessary.

At the time of last year's report there was pushback from mobile companies. Vodafone was especially vocal about disputing the research.

This week, Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees proposed voluntary changes during discussions with the regulator. The alternative could have meant new regulations.

Regardless, in a pragmatic move to head-off regulation, the phone companies proposed voluntary changes during talks with the market watchdog.

ComCom raps Plan B Group knuckles over levy complicance

The Commerce Commission warned Plan B Group over its failure to meet statutory information obligations for its 2019-2020 Telecommunications Development Levy calculations. The business was liable to pay the levy for the first time, but didn't get its paperwork to the Commission on time.

PSTN, number portability, site co-location regs to remain

A draft decision from the Commerce Commission calls for fixed PSTN interconnection, number portability and mobile site co-location to remain regulated.

Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson says: “We are proposing to keep the regulatory backstop for these services to protect the best interests of competition and consumers. Our preliminary view is that these services continue to play an important role in the market and should remain regulated for now”.