Moore pitches in for unbundling of phone network

By PETER GRIFFIN

Mike Moore has weighed into the debate around opening up Telecom's network to competitors, claiming so-called local loop unbundling is essential to sealing future free-trade deals.

The former Prime Minister and World Trade Organisation Director-General is pushing the unbundling agenda as a consultant for TelstraClear, which is desperately seeking access to the last mile of copper cabling linking Telecom and its customers.

The argument is not new - TelstraClear boss Rosemary Howard has pointed to a lack of unbundling as a barrier to trade alliances.

At the urging of US trade association and lobby group CompTel-Ascent, the Office of the US Trade Representative also wrote to the New Zealand Government urging it to unbundle.

Moore said the signing of a free-trade deal with the US could be five or 10 years away but the issue of unbundling was better addressed now.

"It will eventually be an issue. It's not now because we're not negotiating."

Unbundling would likely become a "negotiating chip" in trade talks, he said. The Americans could demand it, but New Zealand could potentially win other concessions by implementing it.

But dismantling Telecom's monopoly on line access would also stimulate competition and savings for consumers.

"In terms of the wider economy, this decision should be made in isolation to trade."

Moore has met Communications Minister Paul Swain to push the unbundling line. Moore said Swain listened to his argument but gave no indication which way his decision would fall next month, when he will rubber stamp or reject a Commerce Commission recommendation against full unbundling.

Telecom has pored over the text of US free-trade deals with the likes of Singapore, Chile and the proposed deal with Australia, and says there is no mention of unbundling being a mandatory provision in the deals.

"It's not the job of free-trade agreements to make judgment calls that vary from country to country," said Telecom's head of regulatory affairs, Bruce Parkes.

Instead, said Parkes, the deals required a regulatory body be put in place that could consider the unbundling issue. New Zealand already had this in the office of the Telecommunications Commissioner.

Moore said delving into telecoms regulation was a "one-off project" of interest to him because of the trade aspect.