The Commerce Commission will this month release the model it proposes to use to estimate Telecom New Zealand Limited's cost of complying with its telecommunications service obligations (TSO). In addition, the Commission will release its analysis of Telecom's own TSO cost model, and invites industry parties to make submissions on both models.
The modelling forms part of the Commission's preparatory work for the publication of its draft and final TSO determination.
Under the Telecommunications Act, the Commission is responsible for overseeing the TSO regime and apportioning the annual net cost between Telecom and other liable carriers. The Commission is currently working on setting the TSO cost for the period of 20 December 2001 (the date on which the Telecommunications Act was passed) to 30 June 2002 (the end of Telecom's financial year).
Proposed timeframe for TSO determination process:
Date Activity
23 April Release of models the Commission will use to estimate the net TSO cost, together with supporting documentation
Release of analysis of Telecom's TSO cost model
8 May Submissions due on material released 23 April
15, 16 May Conference in Wellington on Commission's modelling and inputs
30 May Release of TSO draft determination
30 June Submissions due on TSO draft determination
8, 9, 10 July Conference in Wellington on TSO draft determination
The TSO final determination will be released as soon as practicable after the completion of the conference on the draft determination.
Background
Section 86 of the Telecommunications Act 2001 states:
The Commission must make reasonable efforts to do the following things not later than 120 working days after the end of each financial year of a TSP under a TSO instrument:
(a) prepare a draft determination of the matters set out in section 88:
(b) give public notice of the draft determination:
(c) include in the public notice the closing date for submissions, which must not be later than 20 working days after the date of giving public notice.
Section 90 of Telecommunications Act states:
The Commission must make reasonable efforts to do the following things not later than 40 working days after the closing date for submissions under section 86(c):
(a) prepare a final determination of the matters set out in section 92:
(b) give public notice of the final determination:
(c) give a copy of the determination to all liable persons in relation to the TSO instrument.
Media contact: Osmond Borthwick, Manager, Network Access Group
