8th December 2017 

At this week’s TUANZ Board meeting, Liz Gosling was unanimously elected to take up the role of Chair.  Immediate past Chair, Pat O’Connell had earlier indicated that it was time to hand the responsibility on to the next person.  Liz is the tenth chair since incorporation in 1986, and the second woman to chair the organisation.

Liz is the Chief Information Officer at AUT University where she leads a team of 170 people, and is responsible for information technology provision for AUT’s staff and students.  Her role is focussed on contributing to the University’s strategic direction, creating and executing ICT strategy, building collaborative relationships with key stakeholders across the University and ensuring that ICT delivers excellent services and value.

Liz studied Computer Science at the University of Westminster in London, and holds an MBA (Human Resources Management), Distinction from AUT. She has worked in the IT industry for over three decades, in New Zealand, the US, UK and Europe, in a variety of roles in commercial and not for profit organisations, and in both vendors and client companies.

“I am incredibly mindful of the responsibility of taking on this role given the hard work of all the previous incumbents over the last thirty years.” said Liz.  “ I am passionate about the need for all New Zealanders to access high quality connectivity, and about the transformative power of education.  I will be bringing that passion and experience as a CIO in highly transformative environment to the role of Chair.  I look forward to working with Craig Young, the CEO and the rest of the team to continue to look to the future in making sure all New Zealanders can make the most of the connected future.”

The Board at their meeting noted the significant contribution made by Pat over his time as Chair of TUANZ and made a presentation on behalf of the members.  Pat was elected seven times over seven years by the wider membership of the organisation as Chair and was recently returned to the board for a further two year term.

Other board positions elected at the meeting are:

• Tristan Illich, Aurecon – Deputy Chair

• Jenna Woolley, MIT – Contact Office

• Malcolm Condie, Individual Member – Finance Chair

For more information about the new TUANZ board please see our Board page and  for more information about past board Chairs and members please see Our Past on the TUANZ website.

ENDS

8th August 2017

TUANZ welcomes today’s long awaited introduction of the Telecommunications Amendment Bill which is the outcome of the review of the current regulatory framework.  

“Earlier this year we stated our support of many of the proposed changes when outlined in an options paper, and it’s pleasing to see these make it to Parliament” said Craig Young, Chief Executive of TUANZ.  “The contents of the bill will have important implications for consumers and businesses not only in the short term, but most importantly in the post 2020 world of digital communications”.

“We are especially pleased to see our concerns around the ability of the Commerce Commission to respond to possible competition problems, as well as enhancing the Commission’s powers around ensuring consumer retail service quality is maintained and improved are addressed in the Bill.” said Mr Young.

“This is a significant bill that will take some time to review and as always there will be details that we will want to query at the appropriate time.   As the unique organisation that represents the users of digital communications, our members believe that the voice of these users, both businesses and consumers, continue to be critically important in these matters and we will be fully involved as the bill makes its way through select committee in the next parliament” stated Mr Pat O’Connell, Chair of the Board of TUANZ.

Mr O’Connell went on to say that: “One element not addressed as a result of the review is the inequality of resourcing for consumer voice research and advocacy that exists in New Zealand when compared to other jurisdictions such as Australia.  We are fortunate that today, as over the last 30 years, a significant number of New Zealand businesses and individuals have seen the importance of supporting such a voice through membership of our our organisation.”

ENDS

1st June 2017

Today the Government announced the latest decisions from the review of the current Telecommunications Act that has been underway for the last few years.  “ We have been active in ensuring that our members views were well represented throughout the process and Based on our initial viewing of the latest release, it is pleasing to see several of our proposals taken up by the review.” said Craig Young, CEO of TUANZ.

Today’s package confirms most of the details around the post 2020 regulatory environment for fixed lines services.  While the basis of it remains significantly unchanged since previous announcements, there are a number of changes where some of TUANZ concerns have been considered.  “We are pleased to see that while it does not fully address our concern that the that the 100 Mbs download product will be superseded by faster service even as early as 2020, its is an improvement to see that the anchor product that will be price capped for fibre services has now been defined as an entry level product rather than the most popular.” said Mr Young.

TUANZ does remain concerned over the de-regulation of copper services inside UFB areas, but will work with the Commerce Commission on ensuring there are strong consumer protections within any customer migration codes put in place post the de-regulation.  Rural users will be relying on the copper network for many years to come and so regulation of price and quality of that network as well as the protections under the TSO will remain incredibly important.

“We have been consistently calling for an independent review of the mobile market to ensure that it is delivering internationally competitive services to New Zealanders, and it is pleasing to see the announcement that the Minister will provide a recommendation to the Commerce Commission that they undertake such a study, albeit of the wholesale part of the market” said Mr Young. TUANZ will also write to the Commission to support the Minister’s proposal and requesting that the review is comprehensive given the increased dependence on mobile and fixed wireless services particularly in rural New Zealand

There are also good wins for users of telecommunications where the powers that the Commerce Commision has around consumer service and consumer disputes will be strengthened.  Decisions requiring the Commission to regularly review any disputes process based on the sections of the Act that outline the objectives of a disputes process are welcomed and the industry should take note of those in ensuring their processes continue to improve.

However, there remains significant work that still needs to be undertaken as well as more detail that needs to be developed in the substantive parts of the proposal.  There are other changes made that need to be considered such as the impact of removing the restrictions on Chorus relating to layer 2 and end to end services.  TUANZ  will continue to speak out as the independent voice of users of ICT&T and represent members by engaging with parliament as the review proceeds and the Commerce Commission subsequently commences their work.

 End