Becounted campaign

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Yesterday SPARK launched a campaign to remind the general user community that the Commerce Commission process to decide the UCLL/UBA FPP (Final Pricing Principe) price is at a very important point.  Right now the Commission is working through the detail of submissions and cross submissions and are looking to release a further draft determination on the 2nd July 2015.  

The campaign highlights the fact that the draft FPP pricing would lead to an increase in the price that the Retail Service Providers pay to Chorus, although the reduction made in December 2014 as a result of the IPP (Interim Pricing Principle) is greater than the proposed increase in the FPP price.  You can find the campaign’s website here. 

We are not part of the campaign but we support the sentiment of bringing the matter to the attention of users and getting them to look at the issue.  We encourage users to read about the current process and submit as they see fit on their views.  You can see all the formal submissions on the Commerce Commission website here.  We remain absolutely committed to the Commerce Commission process and will continue to participate and represent the views of our user members.

Our position on the draft FPP price

We’ve consistently said we want the right price to be set – and that is why we have stressed to the Commission that they take the right amount of time to get it as right as possible.  They as the independent regulator must ensure they use the best available information to make fully informed decisions.  And it is a general TUANZ position that we need to be competitive on an international basis and so we will be watching carefully to see if the outcome meets that.

Our position on backdating

We do not believe the commission should backdate any price changes when this leads to a reduction in consumer benefits.

You can read the joint submission made by us with Consumer NZ and Internet NZ here.

LATEST UPDATE: Today (1st June) I’ve been told that the campaign itself has led to over 50,000 emails being sent to the Commerce Commission.