KEY POINTS:
Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds pleaded for a period of stability in the telecommunications industry at a conference in Auckland yesterday.
At the same event, Labour and National politicians gave one another a "slap-around", blaming each other for the mess that led to recent upheavals.
Reynolds told Tel.Con9 in Auckland yesterday that after two years of change the industry was delivering significant improvements.
"Telecom has a helluva lot on its plate and is changing further and faster that comparable telcos overseas."
The company was enthusiastic about the change, he said.
"All of us in the industry have a lot of work to do. So let's find a way to deal with things so we can get on with it. Telecom's view is that having come this far, can the industry now have a period of stability - please."
In the year since Reynolds was appointed, Telecom has been split into three divisions, allowed competitors access to its local exchanges (local loop unbundling), extended fibre-optic cabling under its cabinetisation programme, and faced a new regulated market while planning a new mobile network in November.
It is understood that Reynolds' comments are not linked to specific concerns about new regulations, but concern that the period of dramatic change should not continue in the run-up to the general election.
So far broadband is the only open policy clash between the two parties, with Labour and National offering very different visions on expanding.
At the conference, Communications Minister David Cunliffe repeated Labour's approach for incentives for businesses and customers through a $500 million contestable fund over five years - targeted at areas that directly benefit the economy.
National communications spokesman Maurice Williamson says the internet economy is moving so fast there has to be a new vision - like the National policy for a $1.5 billion taxpayer contribution for fibre optic cable taking broadband direct to 75 per cent of homes.
The two men are at different ends of their careers. Cunliffe is a rising star in the Labour Party who - after years of delays - forced regulation on Telecom.
Williamson is a blast from the past in National. A former communications minister from 1990 to 1999, he resisted industry pleas for Telecom regulation. Though his role in National's front bench is unclear, he fought for National to adopt the still-vague fibre-optic policy.
Cunliffe said National policy risked a return to "calamitous decisions" that the telecommunications industry had taken years to correct.
Labour's focus was on building stepping stones toward broadband to homes. "Jumping straight to the end goal is a reckless policy that could have far-reaching consequences in the technology development. National is still where they were in 2006 - they support a strong regulatory framework. I would not trust them not to take their eye off the ball."
Williamson followed.
"Given that Mr Cunliffe thought he could give us a good serve and a good slap around I'm going to do the same."
He said that problems over Telecom's anti-competitive behaviour arose from selling Telecom with no regulatory protection for consumers, increasing the price of the former state-owned enterprise. "So please don't keep giving us [National] the serve for how this all started."
