Commerce Commission releases draft review of backhaul services
Published19 Mar 2009
The Commerce Commission today released a draft report on backhaul services. Backhaul is the final link connecting competitors to Telecom's local loop, so those companies can provide services such as landlines and broadband to households.
Backhaul services provide Telecom's competitors with access to transmission capacity on specific routes between Telecom's local exchanges and the competitors' networks.
Under review is part of the Commission's backhaul decision, which was released in June 2008. The decision set out which backhaul routes were subject to regulation, as well as the terms and conditions governing the supply of the backhaul service on those routes.
The review looks at a number of routes and examines whether there is actual or potential competition to Telecom on those routes.
The draft review's preliminary conclusions reflect changes in the backhaul market. The Commission has found that some routes that it had believed would be subject to competition are currently not competitive. In addition, the unbundling of additional local exchanges by Telecom's competitors has meant that new routes have needed to be assessed. The Commission's preliminary view is that some of these new routes are competitive.
Where the Commission finds that a route is competitive, it will not be subject to regulation. By contrast, routes that are found not to be competitive will be regulated. Regulation means that the terms and conditions of the Commission's backhaul decision will apply.
More technical details, including which routes were looked at as part of the review, are available in the draft report.
Interested parties have an opportunity to make submissions on the Commission's draft report by 5pm on 3 April 2009.
After considering submissions, the Commission expects to release the final review report and give public notice of the result of the review in mid-April 2009.
Local loop: the 'unbundled copper local loop network service' (local loop) refers to the service that enables access to, and interconnection with, Telecom's copper local loop network. It allows telecommunications companies to supply voice and broadband services to retail customers without the need to replicate the local loop.
Backhaul: The 'unbundled copper local loop network backhaul (telephone exchange to interconnect point) service' (backhaul) provides transmission capacity in Telecom's network between the handover point in Telecom's local telephone exchange and the access seeker's nearest available point of interconnection, for the purpose of providing access to, and interconnection with, Telecom's local loop.
In order to inform the draft review report, the Commission sought information from providers of commercial backhaul services and purchasers of commercial backhaul services, in relation to all routes assessed under the Review. Information was received from Chorus, Telecom (Wholesale), Vodafone, TelstraClear, FXNetworks, CityLink, Smartlinx3, Vector Communications, CountiesPower, Velocity Networks, Network Tasman and Christchurch City Networks.
