Powers urged for watchdog after Telecom ruling

The lengthy court battle between the Commerce Commission and Telecom shows the watchdog needs regulatory powers over ultra-fast broadband, say industry players.

Telecom is appealing a High Court ruling and a $12 million penalty for anti-competitive wholesale pricing between 2001 and 2004 that breached the Commerce Act.

For the critics of a law barring the commission from regulating prices on the ultra-fast broadband scheme until 2020, the decision illustrates the need for an independent watchdog to monitor the fibre network.

The Telecommunications Users Association (TUANZ) said the commission now has the ability to regulate the industry in a timely fashion, which would avoid lengthy court battles like the one with Telecom.

TUANZ chief executive Paul Brislen said the industry would be "back to square one" if the commission was unable to act in the fibre market.

"My fear is that if we move to a world where the commission can't [regulate], you'll potentially see the kinds of cases where would-be retailers will argue that the wholesaler is acting in an inappropriate fashion. They'll have no recourse to the commission, they'll have to go to court - and that is a terrible step backwards."

TelstraClear's head of government affairs and regulation, Liesbeth Koomen, said the commission needed to retain industry oversight. "We would have to resort to general competition law and go through the courts [if we had a grievance] rather than having a regulator with specialist skills act with solid measures in a timely way."