Commerce Commission defines criteria for persons potentially liable for telco development levy

The Commerce Commission today set out their preliminary views on the persons potentially liable for the Telecomunications Development Levy (TDL) for the 2011/12 year.

Following an earlier round of consultation, the Commission’s Draft Notification of Potential Liability for the Telecommunications Development Levy 2012 sets out the Commission's position on criteria for defining TDL liable persons. It also provides an indicative list of potentially liable persons.

The indicative list of liable persons now excludes Sky (on the basis that it does not operate a component of a telecommunications network) but includes local fibre companies, and Crown Fibre Holdings as a related party to the regional local fibre companies. Chorus remains on the list as it carried out business in the previous year, albeit as an unincorporated person.

Once the Commission has confirmed the group of potentially liable persons, financial information will be sought from each of them to identify if they qualify for the TDL liability in the 2011/12 year – the Telecommunications Act has a revenue threshold of $10 million.

The Crown will use the TDL to pay for the Telecommunications Service Obligations (TSO) and other telecommunications infrastructure development in New Zealand. The levy was designed to streamline and more evenly apportion industry contributions for these developments.

The Commission is now seeking comment from interested parties on the criteria for, and list of, potentially liable persons for the purposes of the 2011/12 TDL Liability Allocation Determination.

Submissions commenting on the document are invited by 5pm Wednesday 9 May. Cross-submissions are due by 5pm Wednesday 23 May.

You can find a copy of the Draft Notification of Potential Liability for the Telecommunications Development Levy 2012 on the Commission’s website here: www.comcom.govt.nz/telecommunications-development-levy