Commerce Commission gives public notice that it has commenced a review of the price list of the UCLFS STD determination

The Commerce Commission (Commission) gives public notice that it has commenced a review of the price list of the Unbundled Copper Low Frequency Service Standard Terms Determination (UCLFS STD) under section 30R of the Telecommunications Act 2001 (Act).

The UCLFS connection charges were originally set in the UCLFS STD (Decision 738 of 24 November 2011). The UCLFS STD recognised that UCLFS and Unbundled Copper Local Loop (UCLL) services were comparable and that the services should therefore have the same price, that is, the price determined in the UCLL STD. The Commission noted in the UCLFS STD that it would update the connection and transfer charges for the UCLFS after the UCLL pricing review was completed.

The UCLL STD benchmarking review was completed on 3 December 2012. However, the consequential updates to the UCLFS price list have not yet been made to reflect the prices determined in the UCLL STD.

Our present view is that the UCLFS price list should be amended to link all UCLFS prices to the prices of equivalent UCLL services so that the prices are the same. We also consider that the amended price list should be backdated to apply from the date when the UCLL STD became operative, ie, 3 December 2012.

Submissions on the discussion document are due by 10 January 2014 and cross-submissions by 24 January 2014.

Following consideration of submissions and cross-submissions, the Commission will issue a final decision.