Delay to law on Telecom network

Parliamentarians have delayed legislation forcing Telecom to open its network, but Shane Jones wants to assure the public this is not because they are baffled by the complexities of telecommunications reform.

Parliament's finance and expenditure committee chairman Jones said it had changed the date to report back to parliament for the Telecommunications Amendment Bill from early November to December 5.

But Jones said the delay was not due to his committee being "dazed" by the complexity of the telecommunications reform.

"Have no fear, we are not baffled. We will complete our task and a report will be made by the end of the year," he said.

The committee had pushed for more time because it was also looking into the legislation to tax international equities - which had attracted thousands of submissions - at the same time as the Telecommunications Bill.

Also, the committee had held a "closed" meeting with Telecom to allow it to extend its original submission.

The closed meeting had allowed for a "level of candour" between committee members and Telecom chairman Wayne Boyd and Telecom's audit and risk management committee chairman Rob McLeod, he said.

"They were not secret submissions, they were submissions in private which allowed for extended questioning on behalf of committee members ... It was a fruitful set of exchanges," said Jones.

It was not "totally unusual" for a committee to hold a meeting in private and it was allowed under parliamentary standing orders, he said.

The select committee had encouraged the public to put submissions in on the different options for separation of Telecom - accounting, operational and structural - but Jones would not comment on what the committee had decided.

Telecom is against compulsory accounting separation as the bill proposes. Instead, it wants to split its company into wholesale and retail units, known as operational separation.

It had been speculated that the committee would keep the bill largely unchanged, but Jones said: "It is too early to speak publicly about the final shape and form of what we report back to Parliament."