2.3.2 International considerations

New Zealand is a signatory to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio Regulations. This treaty is an important guide to how we can achieve economies of scale, as the Radio Regulations together with the associated ITU recommendations govern international telecommunications technology development.

Market alignment and regulatory harmonisation with major ICT trading partners (notably Australia⁷ , the US, the UK and Europe) of band and channel plans, and of equipment standards, enables New Zealand to capture economies of scale as we are a small market and predominantly an importer of overseas technology.

Internationally, a wide range of new technologies for use in the 806-960 MHz spectrum are emerging. In addition, some services are transitioning through technology changes, for example, moving from analogue to digital, and adopting the use of different modulation techniques. These technical drivers for change are reflected in the next section which examines the current band utilisation.

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