Land Access for Telecommunications
This paper is a discussion document to request information from the public and those working to roll out fiber infrastructure, as well as homeowners and those wanting broadband services.
This Regulatory Impact Statement analyses options to address access rights to private land by network operators to install and maintain fibre-to-the-premises infrastructure for telecommunications. The Government’s mass market rollout of Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) to at least 80 percent of the population by 2022 is a large-scale infrastructure project worth over $1.5 billion with an eleven-year timeframe. Inefficiencies in the fibre-to-the- premises installation process have been identified and should be addressed to maximise the value of the Crown’s investment to New Zealand.
This document addresses four policy problems related to the overall access rights framework to install and maintain telecommunications. In our view the current framework impedes the improvement and extension of future-proof connectivity for all New Zealanders. The current access rights framework does not produce the most fair and effective outcomes for all affected groups and furthermore lacks consistency in its application between legacy and future-proof technologies. This does not improve connectivity outcomes for New Zealanders, in particular in regards to the accessibility of UFB. Resolving each problem in turn will ultimately amend the overall access regime for telecommunications to ensure greater consistency of a modern, fair and effective access rights regime, and that fibre deployment, in particular the Government’s UFB rollout, is more efficient and considers the impacts for all parties involved.
