Draft decision on $50m liability allocation for telecommunications providers
The Commerce Commission today released its draft decision about how much 15 telecommunications providers will pay towards the $50 million Telecommunications Development Levy (TDL) for 2015/16.
The Commerce Commission today released its draft decision about how much 15 telecommunications providers will pay towards the $50 million Telecommunications Development Levy (TDL) for 2015/16.
The government uses the annual levy to pay for telecommunications infrastructure including the relay service for the deaf and hearing-impaired, broadband for rural areas, and improvements to the 111 emergency service.
The levy — about 1% of telecommunications services revenue — is paid by companies, or groups of companies, earning more than $10 million per year from operating a component of a public telecommunications network (fixed or wireless).
The draft decision sets out how much of the $50 million levy each of these ‘qualifying liable persons’ should pay in proportion to their qualified revenue. Based on the draft decision, over 90% of the contributions will be paid by Spark, Chorus, Vodafone and 2Degrees Mobile.
The Commission has also released its 2015/16 draft determination on the cost of the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) operated by Sprint International New Zealand for the hearing and speech impaired. The Commission’s draft calculation has determined that the cost for that period is $2.6 million. This sum is payable by the Crown out of the $50 million levy.
The Commission invites submissions on both draft decisions. Submissions should be sent to telco@comcom.govt.nz ( 1 MB, PDF ).
The 2015/16 TRS draft cost decision can be found here ( 462 KB, PDF ).
Background
Telecommunications Development Levy
The Telecommunications Development Levy (TDL) was established by legislation in June 2011. The levy is set at $50 million a year until 2016.
The levy — about 1% of telecommunications services revenue — is paid by companies, or groups of companies, earning more than $10 million per year from operating a component of a public telecommunications network (fixed or wireless).
The TDL replaced the Telecommunications Service Obligations (TSO) liability allocation process and streamlined the process for industry contributions to the TSO, broadband for rural areas, and other government-led improvements to New Zealand's telecommunications infrastructure.
The Commission is required to prepare an annual TDL liability allocation determination in accordance with subpart 2 of Part 3 of the Telecommunications Act 2001.
Telecommunications Relay Service
The Commission is required to produce a cost calculation determination for the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) under Part 3 of the Telecommunications Act.
The TRS provider must supply an annual audited report on each financial year from which the Commission can assess the cost of its service and its compliance with its set quality measures related to its delivery of conventional relay services. These services include text-to-voice conversation, voice-to-text conversation, and speech-to-speech relay.