Commission holds TeamTalk/Telecom conference tomorrow

The Commerce Commission will hold a conference to consider TeamTalk Limited's application for authorisation to acquire Telecom New Zealand Limited's trunked mobile radio business, Fleetlink, tomorrow (Wednesday, May 3).

The Commission's Commerce Act Manager, Geoff Thorn, said that the Commission expects to release its final decision by May 17.

The Commerce Act prohibits business acquisitions that result in dominance being acquired or strengthened in any market. However, it allows an otherwise prohibited acquisition to be authorised if the Commission is satisfied that public benefits from the proposal outweigh its detriments to competition.

On March 24 the Commission released its draft determination stating that, based on information then available, public benefits from the proposal outweighed detriments to competition by between $3.6 million and $10.7 million over five years.

The Act gives the Commission 60 working days in which to investigate an application, release a draft determination giving its preliminary view, receive submissions on the draft determination, hold a conference and then draw together the information from its own investigation, the submissions and the conference to make its final decision.

Conference details

Venue: Gilmer Room, Copthorne Plimmer Towers, Wellington

Indicative timetable: 10.30am to 10.40am, introduction from the Chair

10.40am to 11.30am, TeamTalk

11.30am to 11.50am, morning tea

11.50am to 12.30pm, MCS Digital

12.30pm to 1pm, Telecom

1pm to 2pm, lunch

2pm to 3pm, TeamTalk's right of reply.

Procedure: The conference is open to the public and the media to observe and report, though only interested parties can participate.

Media contact: Commerce Act Manager Geoff Thorn

Phone work (04) 498 0958, cellphone 021 661 104

Communications Officer Vincent Cholewa

Phone work (04) 498 0920