Telco Bill passes second reading
The Telecommunications (TSO, Broadband, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, that will enact the changes required for the Ultra Fast Broadband initiative, passed its second reading in Parliament yesterday.
The Telecommunications (TSO, Broadband, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, that will enact the changes required for the Ultra Fast Broadband initiative, passed its second reading in Parliament yesterday.
The regulatory forbearance period that would have prevented Commerce Commission oversight into wholesale pricing on the Ultra Fast Broadband network until 2020 has been removed.
The government back down over the regulatory forbearance period for the Ultra Fast Broadband was a result of hard negotiation by the Maori Party.
ICT Minister Steven Joyce says the Maori Party would have voted for the Telecommunications Amendment Bill if the regulatory forbearance period had remained.
Woosh’s Rod Inglis struck a controversial note right at the beginning of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee’s hearings on the Telecommunications Amendment Bill. Picking up his theme of the outdated nature of the Vodafone 3G solution adopted for rural broadband, He said “there’s not even a consideration in the bill of what pricing for 4G might be."