Telcos demand more time to speak

Paul Brislen, chief executive of TUANZ. Photo / Richard Robinson

Industry players are concerned they will not have long enough to explain their position on proposed telecommunications law when they appear at Parliament this week.

The finance and expenditure select committee will hear oral submissions on the Telecommunications Amendment (TSO, Broadband and Other Matters) Bill tomorrow and Thursday afternoon.

The law paves the way for the building of the Government's fibre internet network, aimed to deliver internet speeds of 100 megabits a second to 75 per cent of New Zealand over the next 10 years.

Submissions will be heard from the likes of Vodafone, TelstraClear, the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ), internet NZ, Vector and Telecom.

Speakers will have about 10 minutes each to orally supplement their written submissions on the law, which were due last Friday.

However, that is not long enough for speakers to adequately articulate a position, according to TelstraClear's chief executive, Allan Freeth. "It's a democratic farce," he said.

"I doubt the select committee members have the [written] submissions yet. Tell me how they are going to read them [by Wednesday and Thursday]. These are complex technology issues and matters of competition law with long-term consequences for this country."

TelstraClear is organising a joint statement with other telcos, calling for the submission day to be delayed and the time available for submissions to be extended.

Paul Brislen, head of TUANZ, agreed 10 minutes was too short to tease out the law's complexities.

"I can understand they are probably getting a lot of people wanting to talk. But 10 minutes? You barely get in and shuffle your papers and it's time to leave again.You won't be able to get into the type of detail this kind of legislation needs," Brislen said.

Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie said the legislation would have a huge impact on the industry so the select committee process should not be rushed.

But committee chairman Craig Foss said oral presentations were only to highlight points from written submissions.

"The oral submission is maybe 10 minutes, but it rests heavily on the written submission, which could be one page or a hundred. The entire written submission is examined and considered, but the 10 minutes is time to pull out the main thread that the submitter wants to particularly bring to the attention of the members around the table," said Foss.

Complaints over oral presentations echo calls last month to push back the due date for written submissions after additions to the bill.