Conclusion

We believe that the final decision as to allocation, renewal, and re-allocation of 850 and 900 MHz management rights, and the costs at which such rights may be renewed, must be investigated in tandem with the Commission’s proposed investigations and consultations. Any remedies deemed necessary to correct the spectrum allocation must also be made available contemporaneously with other remedies arising from the Commission’s investigation. In order to expedite and accommodate competition in the mobile market earlier than the expiration of the management rights in the 2011-2012 time frame, it is essential that the MED make provision now for the use of this spectrum by new entrants.
We therefore request that the MED and Commission do the following:

Re-organise the management rights in the 850/900 MHz bands to accommodate at least another service provider in the traditional 900 MHz GSM spectrum;
Provide for the transfer of the re-allocated spectrum, at a nominal fee designed to promote rather than penalise new entry, to current holders of cellular mobile licenses in other spectrum;
Mandate the temporary licensing of the 850/900 MHz spectrum until completion of the spectrum re-allocation;
Liaise with the Commerce Commission to understand the interplay of spectrum allocation and the safe harbour concept in developing a nationwide scalable, competitive full service third network which creates a fantastic outcome for the New Zealand consumer as nationwide same technology competition comes about;
We encourage the MED to consider becoming less technology agnostic and focus on the implications of same technology competition in world standard GSM/W-CDMA band markets whereby the New Zealand consumer benefits from same technology competition using world standard low cost devices;
We also focus the MED on the benefits of “open portal” software applications whereby software developers have open access in same technology network competition (currently incumbents have closed software portals).

Last updated 3 April 2008