Chorus makes copper deregulation case
In today's newsletter
- Chorus says copper regulation is no longer needed
- Reannz expands with New Zealand eScience Infrastructure
- Utilities Disputes Tautohetohe Whaipainga find billing remains a pain for consumers
- Cello starts procurement business
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"Ditch copper rules as competition kicks in, user numbers decline"
In its latest response to the Commerce Commission investigation into deregulating copper services, Chorus argues that increased competition and the rapid decline in the number of people using the services make regulation unnecessary.
The network company shows data which reveals copper connections have dropped 33 percent since June 2023 when the draft report was published. Today, there are around 100k homes still on copper. Of these, 75k are in rural areas.
Chorus points out it doesn’t make sense to use legislation to adapt the Copper Withdrawal Code for non-fibre areas as there are now numerous alternatives available for users.
At the same time Chorus says that given the rapid decline in copper user numbers and the speed of the legislative process, any law changes would be redundant by the time they are passed.
Chorus is anything but a lonely voice on this topic. There is strong and widespread support for deregulating a range of copper services. Among those agreeing with Chorus are Rural Women New Zealand, One NZ, Tuatahi First Fibre and Spark. The NZ Telecommunications Forum, which represents almost the entire remainder of the industry, is also in favour.
Reannz completes New Zealand eScience Infrastructure takeover
New Zealand eScience Infrastructure is now part of Reannz. The crown-owned business running the government-funded broadband network used by scientists and researchers, has absorbed an organisation that builds high-performance computing systems for research projects.
Reannz chief executive Amber McEwen says: “Creating centralised eResearch infrastructure will decrease fragmentation and enable more equitable access to infrastructure and key specialist capabilities. Over time, it will create critical mass and enable us to offer a broader range of services.”
Billing remains sore point with consumers
This year’s annual report from Utilities Disputes Tautohetohe Whaipainga notes there has been a 36 percent increase in complaints and queries across energy, water and telecommunications. The service handled 8356 complaints compared with 6997 in the previous year.
Billing remains the most common complaint to reach the service and at 48 percent, accounts for almost half the total.
As commissioner and CEO Neil Mallon notes in his message at the start of the report, disputes over billing are no surprise. He writes:
“This increase is a reflection of the difficult financial circumstances of many consumers as price increases place more pressure on the cost of living. It’s reasonable to expect consumers will apply more scrutiny to their bills, and that they’ll be more likely to raise a concern or complaint.”
Cello launches procurement business
Cello has formed an in-house procurement division which it says will “Deliver strategic sourcing of telecommunications equipment and, over time, support a broader range of hardware, software and services.” Strategic in this context means being able to align equipment sourcing with business outcomes.
The new business will be headed by recent recruit Francis File, who spent 11 years working at Spark, most recently as GM of procurement.
File says his goal will be to bring clarity and expert advice to procurement decision-making: “By blending sourcing expertise with vendor insights, we aim to help our clients make informed choices about their technology investments.”
In other news...
- Building a resilient network — Telecommunications Forum
- Government gets stick for its AI strategy — NZ Herald
- The poms are good at fibre — Financial Times
- Starlink is gathering momentum in NZ — Interest
- Cows like wearables — Farmers Weekly
Three new folding phones from Samsung
Samsung has announced three new folding phones: the Galaxy Z Fold7, Galaxy Z Flip7 and Galaxy Z FlipFE. The first two are updates to existing models, the third, the FlipFE, is a cheaper folding phone.
The Fold7 is a thinner, lighter, conventional folding phone and the first to run Android 16 out of the box while the FlipFE is a lower cost entry point.
Folding phones remain something of a novelty. According to Statista, they accounted for just 0.5 percent of the total mobile phone market in 2021. They still represent less than two percent of the market.
This lack of consumer interest is easier to understand when you look at the price of these phones. Prices for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 start at $3250 for a phone with 256GB of storage. A model with a terabyte of storage costs a nose-bleed $4100. Even the FlipFE, which Samsung describes as ‘more affordable’ costs $1700 for a version with 128GB of storage and $1820 for a model with 256GB.
ITU reports New Zealand telecommunications investment
The International Telecommunication Union has released worldwide industry investment figures for 2022. New Zealand is a relatively small player with an investment of US$991 million.
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