KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders do not generally like regulation of business - unless it will rein in Telecom, says a poll commissioned by investment bank Goldman Sachs JBWere.
Canvassing 500 voters on the telecommunications, electricity and airport sectors, the ACNielsen poll found voters strongly supported telco regulation but opposed business
regulation.
The poll showed 71 per cent of voters supported the Government's May proposal to give greater power to the Commerce Commission and for Telecom to open its fixed line network to competitors.
Just under 70 per cent of voters supported Telecom's recently announced split into retail, wholesale and network access units, and 63 per cent supported regulation to encourage new mobile entrants.
The results were likely to reinforce Government's "increasingly interventionist" stance in the telecommunications sector, said Goldman Sachs JBWere strategist Bernard Doyle.
They could also point to potential for backlash against Telecom once fixed-service alternatives were available.
Goldman Sachs JBWere ran the poll to "see what [public views] pushed the Government's buttons", Doyle said.
"We think the Government will be influenced in its desire to regulate by what the public tells them. Governments are sensitive to public opinion, but our perception is [the current] Government is very sensitive to it."
Public policy making was "increasingly being driven by public attitudes, which meant more potential for action on 'vote-winning' issues".
It was possible regulatory uncertainty could "spook" overseas investors who already had to deal with the tyranny of distance.
But the poll found voters did not support state regulation of business generally - only 24 per cent did so.
There was little demand for airport regulation, despite Air New Zealand's outrage when Auckland International Airport and Wellington Airport mooted increased landing fees.
But a majority of voters supported carbon reduction measures such as carbon pricing in the electricity sector, which Doyle said showed attitudes towards carbon policy had changed.
Just under 70 per cent of voters supported measures to encourage renewable energy even if those measures increased electricity prices.
Regulation generally could have huge effects on share prices. Telecom shares were hit hard in May by the Government's announcement that it had to open its fixed line network to competitors. In the following two days, shares plunged 83c.
The stock gained after Parliament's finance and expenditure select committee recommended the Communications Minister oversee the company's three-way split.
And electricity lines company Vector's share price sank after its dispute with the Commerce Commission over price differentiations between customers.
When the commission announced it intended to take control of Vector's pricing in August, the energy stock had $370 million wiped from its market value in the following six days.
