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Regulator issues final UBA price decision
2013-11-05 00:09:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) New Zealand's Commerce Commission has released its final decision on the additional costs of Chorus' unbundled bitstream access (UBA) service. These are the costs of providing the UBA service over and above the unbundled copper local loop (UCLL) price component. The additional UBA cost component has been set at NZD 10.92 per line per month from 1 December 2014. The UCLL price component was reset on 3 December 2012 as NZD 23.52 per line per month, resulting in a combined price of NZD 34.44 per line per month, which is down 23 percent from the current NZD 44.98. The Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ) welcomed the decision and urged the government to accept the decision. "Any price the government might now propose above NZD 34.44 per month would represent an obvious tax on Kiwi households and businesses in order to subsidise Chorus," TUANZ chief executive Paul Brislen said. Meanwhile, fixed-line operator Chorus said that the new price would have around a NZD 142 million annualised EBITDA impact. In a statement the company said: "The UBA price announced today would imply around a NZD 1 billion funding shortfall by 2020, reflecting a combination of loss of operating cash flows, reduced borrowing capacity and increased interest and funding costs." Chorus warned that it would have much less cash every year to invest and would not be able to borrow the money it needs to make up to a NZD 3 billion investment in the ultra fast broadband (UFB) network.
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Category:Telecommunications