TSO determinations for 2009/10 released by Commerce Commission
Published15 Dec 2010
The Commerce Commission has released its final determinations for the period 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010 on:
the cost of the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) for the hearing impaired; and
the proportion of the cost to be met by each party liable to contribute to the cost of the TRS and Telecom New Zealand's local residential telephone service obligation.
The Commerce Commission has released its final determinations for the period 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010 on:
the cost of the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) for the hearing impaired; and
the proportion of the cost to be met by each party liable to contribute to the cost of the TRS and Telecom New Zealand's local residential telephone service obligation.
The TRS is a Telecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) provided by Sprint International New Zealand Limited. The Commission has determined that the cost for the relay service for 2009/10 is $2.22 million. This is unchanged from the Commission's draft determination.
The TSO cost allocation determination identifies which parties will bear the costs and the proportion of the cost they will pay for the relay and local residential telephone services.
All TSO costs for 2009/10 will be shared between Telecom New Zealand Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Limited, TelstraClear New Zealand Limited, WorldxChange Communications Limited, CallPlus Limited, Compass Communications Limited, Teamtalk Limited, Woosh Wireless Limited, Orcon Internet Limited, Two Degrees Mobile Limited, Airnet NZ Limited, Link Telecom (NZ) Limited and Teletraders (NZ) Limited in proportion to their net TSO-qualified revenues.
Telecom New Zealand Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Limited and TelstraClear New Zealand Limited will bear more than 98 per cent of the TSO costs with the rest of the costs spread between the other companies. The cost allocation is unchanged from the Commission's draft determination.
The local residential telephone service TSO costs for 2009/10 (which will use the proportions in the TSO cost allocation determination for 2009/10) will not be finalised until the outcome of pending TSO litigation is determined.
The Commission's final determinations are available on the Commission's website:
Under Part 3 of the Telecommunications Act 2001, Telecommunications Service Obligations (TSO) are entered into in order to facilitate the supply of certain telecommunications services to groups of consumers that may not otherwise be supplied on a commercial basis, or at a price that is considered by the Minister of Communications to be affordable to those consumers.
There are currently two TSO instruments:
TSO Deed for Local Residential Telephone Service between the Crown and Telecom; and
TSO Deed for Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) for the hearing impaired between the Crown and Sprint.
The TSO instruments costs once determined are apportioned among liable persons.
The Commission administers the TSO deeds by:
monitoring compliance of the relevant service providers;
determining the liable persons;
determining the cost faced by the service providers, unless the amount is specified in the deed; and
determining the apportionment of this cost amongst the liable persons.
The 'liable persons' are Telecom and the companies operating public switched telephone networks (PSTN) that are interconnected with Telecom's fixed PSTN.
The government is currently reviewing the Local Service TSO for local residential telephone services. The TSO review is being undertaken as part of the government's regulatory review programme.
