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From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: New Zealand Sysop Fights Telco on Business Rates
Message-ID: <16380@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 24 Jan 91 22:14:39 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 64, Message 5 of 10


In article <16362@accuvax.nwu.edu>, sbeagle@kennels.actrix.gen.nz
(Sleeping Beagle) writes:

> > The problem you're experiencing is a result of *unbalanced*
> > deregulation.  There is still a regulation giving the telco a legal
> > monopoly, but some of the regulations protecting consumers from that
> > monopoly have been removed.

> Wrong.

> There is no legal barrier to anyone setting up another telco in New
> Zealand. The only problem is that this theoretical start-up
> (up-start?) would be fighting against one of the more powerful
> companies in New Zealand with a fully established network. One or two
> companies have tried but have got nowhere.

When you say "there is no legal barrier to anyone setting up another
telco in NZ", are you talking about *local* service as well as long
distance?

The original poster mentioned that NZ's new ROCs (regional operating
companies) were analogous to the RBOCs that exist in the US.  I
therefore inferred that the ROCs (like the RBOCs) held legal
monopolies for providing local service within their respective
regions.  (Note the distinction between local service, which even in
the US is still a regulated monopoly, and competitive long-distance
service).  When I said "there is still a regulation giving the telco a
legal monopoly", I was referring to local service.

Is it indeed the case that NZ has opened even *local* telephone
service to competition?  If so, what measures exist to ensure fair
dealings in setting up inter-connectivity between competing carriers,
use of rights-of-way for land lines, telephone number assignment, etc?

Or are you merely asserting that only long-distance service has been
deregulated, but that no new competitor has yet been able to gain
significant market share?  In the US this was less of a problem, since
new LD companies were already waiting in the wings when AT&T lost its
monopoly on LD service.  But in NZ it sounds like the problem is that
the government deregulated the LD industry without bothering to break
up the old monopoly.


Bob Goudreau				+1 919 248 6231
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