Commerce Commission releases issues paper on high speed broadband demand-side study

The Commerce Commission has today released the first of three issues papers relating to the uptake of high speed broadband ahead of a public conference in February 2012. The paper examines the technical issues that the Commission has identified as being relevant to the uptake of high speed broadband services.

The Commission does not expect the technical issues dealt with in this paper to be discussed in detail at the conference. However, these technical issues will be referred to in the Commission's draft report to be issued after the conference, which will be subject to a formal consultation process.

The key technical issues addressed in the paper are:

• The cost of non-standard connections, premises re-wiring and the provision of customer premises equipment
• National and international transit
• Peering, internet protocol (IP) interconnection and network neutrality
• Data caps

The paper also makes a number of observations on potential barriers to the uptake of high speed broadband services, including:

• The cost to residential and business customers of paying for non-standard connections is likely to be a significant barrier to the uptake of high speed broadband. Premises re-wiring and cost of customer premises equipment (CPE) replacements may also inhibit the uptake of high speed broadband.
• If current market trends continue, national and international transit and data caps are likely to be less significant issues for the uptake of high speed broadband. Peering, IP interconnection and network neutrality do not appear to be significant issues.

Two further papers will be released in early 2012 which set out issues that will be considered in depth at The Future with High Speed Broadband: Opportunities for New Zealand conference. These papers will look at e-health and e-education, and willingness to pay, content, and applications. They will be released in late January and early February respectively.

The Commission encourages interested parties to comment on the issues papers either directly to the Commission by emailing telco@comcom.govt.nz, or via social media sites relating to the demand-side study, including LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

You can view a copy of the paper on the Commission's website at: www.comcom.govt.nz/high-speed-broadband-services-demand-side-study

Background

The Commission is carrying out a high speed broadband services demand-side study to identify and inform on any factors that may impede the uptake of high speed broadband services in New Zealand. A copy of the terms of reference for the study can be found at: www.comcom.govt.nz/high-speed-broadband-services-demand-side-study

The study is conducted under Section 9A of the Telecommunications Act 2001, which empowers the Commission to conduct inquiries, reviews and studies into any matter relating to the telecommunications industry for the long-term benefit of end-users of telecommunications services within New Zealand.

The Future with High Speed Broadband: Opportunities for New Zealand conference will be held on 20 and 21 February 2012 in Auckland. Attendance is free and you can register at: www.futurebroadband.co.nz

The timeline for the high speed broadband services demand-side study is below.