Maori lobby splits committee

By CHRIS BARTON

Intense lobbying by Maori interests has opened a fissure in the select committee considering the Telecommunications Bill.

Both National and Act committee members have opposed numerous changes to the bill, many of which were included to gain Maori support, they say.

National telecommunications spokesman Alec Neill said the Maori-interest company Northelia demanded that mandatory cellular roaming and co-location be included in the bill, and the Labour Maori caucus fell in behind.

Northelia is a mystery company which spent $10.2 million on 10MHz of spectrum suitable for next generation mobile services in the Government's radio spectrum auction. The company was then sold to an unnamed overseas buyer.

Mr Neill said both Northelia and Hautaki Trust - a pan-Maori group which acquired a slice of third generation mobile spectrum at a discounted price - made submissions to the committee. Both pushed for mandatory roaming and designated co-location regulations.

Such regulations would allow new entrants to immediately set up in competition to Telecom and Vodafone while they build their own network.

Communications Minister Paul Swain said all sectors had been involved in intense lobbying on these issues for 18 months and the Government wanted to build a more competitive framework.

The select committee returned the bill to Parliament for further debate, forcing Mr Swain to announce that the Government would push through the amendments in a supplementary order paper.

Local loop unbundling remains out of the bill. But the bill will be amended to require the Telecommunications Commissioner to undertake a mandatory review within 24 months on whether to designate unbundling.