The Commerce Commission has issued its draft Determination on the interconnection component of CallPlus Limited's application for an access determination under the Telecommunications Act 2001.
CallPlus applied to the Commission in December 2002 for a determination relating to interconnection services and wholesale (resale) services from Telecom New Zealand Limited. The Commission decided to separate CallPlus' application into interconnection and wholesale.
CallPlus provides telecommunications services to predominantly residential customers and small and medium enterprises in New Zealand.
The Commission's determination relates to price and non-price terms for interconnection between the CallPlus and Telecom networks.
Telecommunications Commissioner Douglas Webb has indicated that the interconnection price is likely to be set at 1.13 cents per minute. The interconnection price is the charge payable by one carrier to the other for handling various calls between the two networks. This includes the local end of toll calls, toll free calls and fixed to mobile calls.
Within its application, CallPlus sought that the "transport" component between toll boundaries also be regulated. The Commission has indicated in its draft Determination that this component of the call is beyond the scope of the designated service and it is therefore not in a position to determine the price for this element of the service.
The Commission is now calling for submissions from interested parties on its draft Determination by 18 July and intends to hold a conference shortly after.
The parties have requested that the Commission defer its consideration of the "wholesale" element of CallPlus' application until August whilst they continue negotiations.
Background
On 20 December 2002, CallPlus filed an application with the Commission under section 20 of the Act seeking determination in regard to interconnection with Telecom's fixed PSTN, non price-capped retail services offered by means of Telecom's fixed telecommunications network and retail services offered by means of Telecom's fixed telecommunications network as part of a bundle of retail services.
On 24 March, the Commission decided to investigate the CallPlus application for determination, so far as it concerns interconnection with Telecom's fixed PSTN ("interconnection"). The Commission advised the parties by way of Order that it would defer its decision whether to investigate retail services offered by means of Telecom's fixed telecommunications network ("wholesale") until an unspecified later date. On 23 May, the Commission issued its Decision to Investigate the CallPlus application so far as it concerns certain of the retail services listed in the application but declined to investigate those services forming parts of bundles of retail services. This draft Determination is limited only to the interconnection component of the application
