Communications Breakdown: Control of subsidised FTTH will bring structural separation to Telecom NZ.
The government issued a ‘draft proposal for comment’, basically to set up a PPP for constructing the network.
As promised earlier, the government will contribute half of the cost (NZD 1.5bn) of building out an open access FTTH network to 75% of the people (in 25 towns – note that 29.5% of all homes are in Auckland). During the first six years, focus is on schools, businesses, the health industry and greenfields. However, FTTH must be deployed within 10 years.
The big issue of course is: what will Telecom NZ do? Will they overplay their hand the way Telstra did in Australia? The document clearly demands structural separation of Telecom NZ, should it want to invest in the passive infrastructure; unless it would hold a minority stake (comparable to KPN holding 41% in the new Reggefiber Group), in which case functional separation (which it already implemented) would suffice
