Competition for wholesale broadband services remains limited says Commerce Commission

The Commerce Commission today published its review of access to competitive broadband services
and concluded that Telecom faces limited competition in this market. As a result wholesale
broadband access will remain subject to the terms of the unbundled bitstream access (UBA)
Standard Terms Determination.

The UBA service is a wholesale broadband service that allows telecommunications operators to
differentiate their retail products from Telecom’s retail broadband services. Telecom is required to
provide other telecommunications operators access to the regulated UBA service on request. In
areas where Telecom faces effective competition, it would no longer be required to provide the
regulated UBA service.

“In the wholesale market, there is no effective competition for the more than 50 per cent of end user
lines served from cabinets,” said Dr Ross Patterson, Telecommunications Commissioner.
“Competition in the retail market is limited because access seekers cannot provide voice services
over cabinetised lines using their own exchange-based equipment in conjunction with UBA from
Telecom. In our review, we concluded that the unavailability of this service has resulted in limited
competition in the broadband access market. As a result, the terms of the STD will continue to
apply across all areas in New Zealand” said Dr. Patterson.

The final determination can be found on the Commission’s website at:
www.comcom.govt.nz/1st-competition-test-for-uba-std