September 24, 2025 • 17 mins
For the past month, Kiwis have been able to have their say on proposals to change our telecommunications sector.
Minister for Regulation David Seymour has said that these services are “as essential as power and water” and that “changing the way the sector is regulated will affect almost every Kiwi”.
Changes could include introducing a consumer code, replacing or phasing out the current obligation framework, and “getting rid of obsolete rules”.
But, what does that all mean?
And do enough New Zealanders know how these changes could affect our everyday lives?
Today on The Front Page, tech commentator Bill Bennett is with us to dive into the recommendations, and why consumers should care about how their connectivity is regulated.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Editor/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Jane Yee
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast presented by.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
The New Zealand Herald.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
For the past month, kiwis have been able to have
their say on proposals to change our telecommunications sector.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Minister for Regulation David Seymour.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Has said these services are as essential as power and water,
and that changing the way the sector is regulated will.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Affect almost every kiwi.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Changes could include introducing a consumer code, replacing or phasing
out current obligation frameworks, and getting rid of obsolete rules.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
But what does all of that actually mean?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And do enough New Zealanders know how these changes could
affect our everyday lives. Today on the front Page, Tech
common Bill Bennett is with us to dive into the
recommendations and why consumers should care about how their connectivity
is regulated. First off, Bill, do you think the telecommunications
(01:17):
sector's regulatory framework is fit for purpose at the moment?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
It's pretty good. I mean it's working. In terms of competition.
Our market is as competitive as any market could be.
Compare our telecommunications market. We save a supermarket sector and
it's intensely competitive. It's so competitive that the companies sometimes
winge that. You know, it's so competitive they can't make
(01:44):
as much profit as they might make, So from that
point of view, it's working. From the consumer point of view,
it's working too, because there's a lot of things in
place to protect consumers and keep consumers from being exploited.
So from all but from those points of view, it's
working quite well. There are some issues that probably need
(02:06):
to be addressed, and there's a regulatory review going on
right now which is going.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Over those issues.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
One of the problems historically is that telecommunications, like anything
in technology, moves quite fast, and legislation doesn't tend to
move very fast. But u Zeeland we have something called
the Telecommunications Act, and I think the Telecommunications Act goes
back to two thousand and one. Since two thousand and one,
(02:34):
there's been thirteen amendments, so it's amended every couple of years,
and a lot of those amendments along the way have
been to update it. So it had a really big
amendment about five or six years ago to get ready
for the fiber regime. So there's a huge set of
new rules coming in for fiber. Fact, the last amendment
(02:55):
I think was in March this year, so it's not
like it's left to just you and get out of date.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Why are they fiddling with it then? If it's doing
all right well, I.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Think two things.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
One is there's a bit of ideology in that the
government wants to cut down on the amount of regulations
there are, full stop. And it's a good place to
start because it's although it's a very complicated set of regulations,
as on, the industry is relatively simple.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
It's only a.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Handful of big players, so it's relatively easy to deal with.
It's much easier to deal with that than some of
the tackling some of the harder things, like say supermarkets.
And the other thing is is there's some pressure from
inside the industry to reform some of the regulation, but
in general there's not a lot of push from inside
(03:45):
the sector to reform things.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
What are the most significant recommendations do you think?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Well, at the review that's coming along at the moment,
they haven't got recommendations yet. They've just asked for input
from the industry and from various for the groups. I
think they're due to report this Thursday on that input
from the industry and from stakeholders. There's I don't think
there are actual recommendations at mom where there are topics
(04:11):
that they're looking at, and one of the things they're
looking at, for example, is whether the rules around fiber,
for example, are up to date. What they are, you know,
it pretty much is, but there are some there are
some kind of historic things in there that maybe we
don't need anymore, Like a lot of the rules that
are around to do with copper networks or the copper
networks are going out there. But by twenty thirty the
(04:33):
copper networks will be completely closed and we're down to
perhaps one hundred and twenty thousand people that are relying
on copy to day, which isn't very much in the
bigger scheme of things. So there's a lot of fussing
over things that no longer really apply. It's a bit
like the old thing with the London taxes having to
(04:54):
carry a bale of hay on the top of the
horses long after the horses are gone and the taxes
rulled cars.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Tell me what is the telecommunications service obligations and why
should it be phased out or replaced?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I know that that's something that they're looking at.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, look when when it's a historic thing. Telecom originally
was the post office, and it was government owned. It
was state controlled, and it was run as a public service,
and it had public service obligations. And some of the
things were like remote places would get a telephone box
and a telephone line and they didn't have to pay
(05:34):
more for it. So even if you were in the
middle of nowhere, you had some kind of telecommunications. The
industry was seen as it was you know, i'd go
back one hundred years. It was seen as a nation
building exercise to have all that in place, so that
you know, a cowcocky on a farm in the middle
of nowhere could ring home for the weekend or whatever
from a coin box. Then around about the late eighties
(06:00):
it got privatized. Telecom got privatized and it got bought
out by at the time some overseas interests, and the
obligations were put in place so that the things that
had been social goods that were around forever until then
continued after privatization and then when competitors came in that
(06:24):
the idea was the things that keep happening, and some
of those things are still important today, like one one
one calling, for example, is part of that, and there's
a service for it's a relay service for people that
are hard of hearing, so that you don't need to
listen to.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
A voice call.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
There are other ways of getting the information for those people,
and that's all paid for by the government, but it
has to be provided by the industry. So what we're
what the TSO is really all about. It's about getting
private companies to continue those services, and there's money for that,
some government money, and some of it comes from a
levee which is charged on the industry, and the industry
(07:03):
currently pays ten million dollars a year. The amount of
the company pays is based on how much money they make,
so Spark would pay the most, and I think Corus
pays the second most. Then it's one and two degrees
and so on, and those four companies probably pay about
ninety eighty five ninety percent of the levy, and all
the smaller ones to pay a small amount. But the
(07:23):
money that comes in from that is used to do
things like subsidized rural calling, subsidized services that are necessary, and.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
That's really what it's about.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
The thing is is that it was essential when telecom
was privatized for those things to carry on. It's not
so important today when you've got mobile phones and satellite
communications in remote places and so on, and alternative options.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
But there's a there's a second area of concern, and.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's what's called the digital divide, as a divide between
rich p and poor people. And poor people have difficulty
paying for some of these services, and they certainly have
difficulty paying for things like computers and so on to
use digital services. But there's also a rural digital divide
that is that services don't reach everywhere. The fiber network
(08:17):
goes to eighty seven percent of the country, but that
leaves thirteen percent which is off the fiber network, and
some of those people are still dependent on copper lines,
and that's kind of got to be looked after.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Buy everyone.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It's a sort of society problem, not an industry problem, and.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
That's what it's about.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And it's as you say, it's likely to be phased out,
given that we're moving to a world where everyone everything's
on mobile, the copper network's gone, and if you're really
stuck out in the whats you can use satellite.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
So is there a fear though that if we get
rid of all of the rules and regulations, that's say,
a town with a population of ten could be left
out and left off the map because they're not then
you know, seen as profitable for those big companies to
install those networks.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And but back in the day of when it was
a public service, public service. I talked to the people
who ran Telecom back in the eighties. I've been around
this business for a long time, and I remember someone
telling me that there was a phone line to the
Wronger Wrong a lodge which is right at the bottom
of the wire rapper on the coast, and it was
the longest single stretch of copper copper wiring in the
(09:32):
network at the times. The head of Telecom the time
told me that it costs literally costs millions every year
for that line to exist. But that was being subsidized
by all the people in Karori in places like that
where you know where they live next to each other
and right close to an exchange and it costs nothing
to connect their lines, So that that kind of cross
substy was there, and it's not there in a commercial era.
(09:54):
That's that would be true, excepted is there in some
ways because the fiber network build has been subsidized and
the fiber network going into rural towns has been paid
for by various government projects over the years. During the lockdowns,
there was a big rural development budget was a lot
(10:16):
of that money was spent on sending viber into those
regional areas.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
If we don't have those kind of obligations in place, though,
do we run the risk of, you know, having some
towns and some people who live rurally just cut off
the map. I mean, I know that three G is
being phased out, and I don't know if you've tried
to drive the length of the country, but there are
definitely some pretty large dark spots in between there we
(10:41):
can't get internet absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
And again some of that TDL money, that levee money
has been spent on something called the Rural Connectivity Group,
which is it's basically the three main tailcoats that Spark
two degrees and one in a joint venture and they
built town was along remote roads and Chorus puts fiber
between some of the tech Most of the towers have
(11:05):
fiber to them and it goes to place. It's like
Milford Sound. There's there's a fiber now that goes into
Milford Sound and there's there's phone towls all along that road,
you know, and that's a pretty remote road. But we're
not there with one hundred percent coverage for sure, but
we improved, it's massively improved, and that those builds are
(11:27):
generally paid for by governments or by the.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Row from the levee.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
At the end of last year, Octas was here with
a twelve million dollar fine over people not being able.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
To connect to triple zero.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Now it has happened again, and only this time at
least three people have died. What is next, brobdis If
your network fails on a triple zero call, your phone
is meant to switch over to a different network to
get through. This is a mechanism Intelgoes must have in
place as for this act. And in this instance it's
clear that even the backup plans failed. Customers warning signs
were there in twenty twenty three, and now Australia's Communications
(12:04):
Minister says the telco giant will face significant consequences.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Now we've seen in Australia recently exactly how reliant we
are on our telco sectors. Australian officials have promised that
Optus will face significant consequences over a system's outage and
it's linked to multiple deaths. The incident left hundreds of
people across more than half of the country unable to
(12:31):
call emergency services for thirteen hours.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
At least three people died as a result. Could something
similar happen here?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yes, but no, And by that I mean it's complicated.
But look, when cyclone Gabrielle came through, people were cut
off for a long periods of time. The networks are
quite resilient, but they're not resilient enough, and Gabrielle exposed that.
Up until Gabrielle, we thought that if you had a
(13:03):
handful of cables going into an area like I think
it's Hawk's Bay that was worst affected towns like Wairoa
in Hawks Bay, they had a handful of lines going
into those places, but the lines went across bridges and
the bridges were wiped out and a couple of lines,
And it turns out that having tours three lines in
isn't enough.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
You need more.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
So we're building resilience into the network and we've been
doing a lot of work on that since Gabrielle and
Gabrielle's it was quite a wake up call for that.
But the other thing is is that increasingly we can
use satellites to go around that as well. So if
an area if part of the country's cut off because
the main links are down, satellite can fill in the gaps.
(13:44):
And you probably won't be able to stream Netflix in
high definition if you're in one of those areas time,
but you will be able to make voice calls, and
you will be able to make basic email calls and
send text messages and on. So it's less likely in
New Zealand because we do have more resilience. But the
interesting thing about that Australian episode was that the answer
(14:09):
to it, the government sees the answer to it, and
the industry sees the answer to that as fixing the regulations,
which is back to what we were talking about in
the first place, about those regular all those regulations that
they're in place for a purpose. They're not there just
because you know, pureaucrats enjoy imposing rules on the industry.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So if the Australia is looking at more regulations and
we're looking at scaling them.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Back, yes, yes, there's an element of truth in that.
We've probably my guess is is that the review is
not going to scale them back that much. There'll be
some tinkering, There'll be some things that go. There's probably
a couple of things which are past their cell by date,
like the rules around copper and so on. But in general,
I think we have and it's widely understood and even
(14:55):
within the industry it's widely understood. We have actually very
good regulations in this area.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
In terms of I mean you see something like the
you know, have your say for the Telecommunications sector regulate
regulatory framework and your every day key, we would just
look at that and turn the page.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Right, Why should every day key we care about this?
Speaker 4 (15:16):
There are people that are organized to do that. So,
for example, in rural areas, there are groups that lobby
for rural telecommunications.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I was that there's a Connecting a Toroa summit which
was in Hamilton earlier this year, which was run by
two ants now two ants is that is used to
be the Telecommunications Users Group of New Zealander, but it's
now the Technology Users of New Zealand. They advocate on
behalf of users and they would and so they were
(15:46):
put in submissions to things like that, but also things
like the Young Rural Doctors would put in a submission
and Federated Farmers would put in, you know, put in submissions,
and there are rural women's groups and so on which
submit so you so rather than having to read this
stuff yourself and get on top of what can be
(16:09):
quite complicated sets of rules and so on, you know,
go and talk to your Go and talk to one
of those organizations that would represent you.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Thanks for joining us, Bill, You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at NZDHERLD, dot co dot MZ. The Front Page is
produced by Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who is also
our editor. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front Page
on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah,
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast presented by.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
The New Zealand Herald.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
For the past month, kiwis have been able to have
their say on proposals to change our telecommunications sector.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Minister for Regulation David Seymour.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Has said these services are as essential as power and water,
and that changing the way the sector is regulated will.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Affect almost every kiwi.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Changes could include introducing a consumer code, replacing or phasing
out current obligation frameworks, and getting rid of obsolete rules.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
But what does all of that actually mean?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And do enough New Zealanders know how these changes could
affect our everyday lives. Today on the front Page, Tech
common Bill Bennett is with us to dive into the
recommendations and why consumers should care about how their connectivity
is regulated. First off, Bill, do you think the telecommunications
(01:17):
sector's regulatory framework is fit for purpose at the moment?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
It's pretty good. I mean it's working. In terms of competition.
Our market is as competitive as any market could be.
Compare our telecommunications market. We save a supermarket sector and
it's intensely competitive. It's so competitive that the companies sometimes
winge that. You know, it's so competitive they can't make
(01:44):
as much profit as they might make, So from that
point of view, it's working. From the consumer point of view,
it's working too, because there's a lot of things in
place to protect consumers and keep consumers from being exploited.
So from all but from those points of view, it's
working quite well. There are some issues that probably need
(02:06):
to be addressed, and there's a regulatory review going on
right now which is going.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Over those issues.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
One of the problems historically is that telecommunications, like anything
in technology, moves quite fast, and legislation doesn't tend to
move very fast. But u Zeeland we have something called
the Telecommunications Act, and I think the Telecommunications Act goes
back to two thousand and one. Since two thousand and one,
(02:34):
there's been thirteen amendments, so it's amended every couple of years,
and a lot of those amendments along the way have
been to update it. So it had a really big
amendment about five or six years ago to get ready
for the fiber regime. So there's a huge set of
new rules coming in for fiber. Fact, the last amendment
(02:55):
I think was in March this year, so it's not
like it's left to just you and get out of date.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Why are they fiddling with it then? If it's doing
all right well, I.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Think two things.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
One is there's a bit of ideology in that the
government wants to cut down on the amount of regulations
there are, full stop. And it's a good place to
start because it's although it's a very complicated set of regulations,
as on, the industry is relatively simple.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
It's only a.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Handful of big players, so it's relatively easy to deal with.
It's much easier to deal with that than some of
the tackling some of the harder things, like say supermarkets.
And the other thing is is there's some pressure from
inside the industry to reform some of the regulation, but
in general there's not a lot of push from inside
(03:45):
the sector to reform things.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
What are the most significant recommendations do you think?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Well, at the review that's coming along at the moment,
they haven't got recommendations yet. They've just asked for input
from the industry and from various for the groups. I
think they're due to report this Thursday on that input
from the industry and from stakeholders. There's I don't think
there are actual recommendations at mom where there are topics
(04:11):
that they're looking at, and one of the things they're
looking at, for example, is whether the rules around fiber,
for example, are up to date. What they are, you know,
it pretty much is, but there are some there are
some kind of historic things in there that maybe we
don't need anymore, Like a lot of the rules that
are around to do with copper networks or the copper
networks are going out there. But by twenty thirty the
(04:33):
copper networks will be completely closed and we're down to
perhaps one hundred and twenty thousand people that are relying
on copy to day, which isn't very much in the
bigger scheme of things. So there's a lot of fussing
over things that no longer really apply. It's a bit
like the old thing with the London taxes having to
(04:54):
carry a bale of hay on the top of the
horses long after the horses are gone and the taxes
rulled cars.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Tell me what is the telecommunications service obligations and why
should it be phased out or replaced?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I know that that's something that they're looking at.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, look when when it's a historic thing. Telecom originally
was the post office, and it was government owned. It
was state controlled, and it was run as a public service,
and it had public service obligations. And some of the
things were like remote places would get a telephone box
and a telephone line and they didn't have to pay
(05:34):
more for it. So even if you were in the
middle of nowhere, you had some kind of telecommunications. The
industry was seen as it was you know, i'd go
back one hundred years. It was seen as a nation
building exercise to have all that in place, so that
you know, a cowcocky on a farm in the middle
of nowhere could ring home for the weekend or whatever
from a coin box. Then around about the late eighties
(06:00):
it got privatized. Telecom got privatized and it got bought
out by at the time some overseas interests, and the
obligations were put in place so that the things that
had been social goods that were around forever until then
continued after privatization and then when competitors came in that
(06:24):
the idea was the things that keep happening, and some
of those things are still important today, like one one
one calling, for example, is part of that, and there's
a service for it's a relay service for people that
are hard of hearing, so that you don't need to
listen to.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
A voice call.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
There are other ways of getting the information for those people,
and that's all paid for by the government, but it
has to be provided by the industry. So what we're
what the TSO is really all about. It's about getting
private companies to continue those services, and there's money for that,
some government money, and some of it comes from a
levee which is charged on the industry, and the industry
(07:03):
currently pays ten million dollars a year. The amount of
the company pays is based on how much money they make,
so Spark would pay the most, and I think Corus
pays the second most. Then it's one and two degrees
and so on, and those four companies probably pay about
ninety eighty five ninety percent of the levy, and all
the smaller ones to pay a small amount. But the
(07:23):
money that comes in from that is used to do
things like subsidized rural calling, subsidized services that are necessary, and.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
That's really what it's about.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
The thing is is that it was essential when telecom
was privatized for those things to carry on. It's not
so important today when you've got mobile phones and satellite
communications in remote places and so on, and alternative options.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
But there's a there's a second area of concern, and.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's what's called the digital divide, as a divide between
rich p and poor people. And poor people have difficulty
paying for some of these services, and they certainly have
difficulty paying for things like computers and so on to
use digital services. But there's also a rural digital divide
that is that services don't reach everywhere. The fiber network
(08:17):
goes to eighty seven percent of the country, but that
leaves thirteen percent which is off the fiber network, and
some of those people are still dependent on copper lines,
and that's kind of got to be looked after.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Buy everyone.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It's a sort of society problem, not an industry problem, and.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
That's what it's about.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And it's as you say, it's likely to be phased out,
given that we're moving to a world where everyone everything's
on mobile, the copper network's gone, and if you're really
stuck out in the whats you can use satellite.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
So is there a fear though that if we get
rid of all of the rules and regulations, that's say,
a town with a population of ten could be left
out and left off the map because they're not then
you know, seen as profitable for those big companies to
install those networks.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And but back in the day of when it was
a public service, public service. I talked to the people
who ran Telecom back in the eighties. I've been around
this business for a long time, and I remember someone
telling me that there was a phone line to the
Wronger Wrong a lodge which is right at the bottom
of the wire rapper on the coast, and it was
the longest single stretch of copper copper wiring in the
(09:32):
network at the times. The head of Telecom the time
told me that it costs literally costs millions every year
for that line to exist. But that was being subsidized
by all the people in Karori in places like that
where you know where they live next to each other
and right close to an exchange and it costs nothing
to connect their lines, So that that kind of cross
substy was there, and it's not there in a commercial era.
(09:54):
That's that would be true, excepted is there in some
ways because the fiber network build has been subsidized and
the fiber network going into rural towns has been paid
for by various government projects over the years. During the lockdowns,
there was a big rural development budget was a lot
(10:16):
of that money was spent on sending viber into those
regional areas.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
If we don't have those kind of obligations in place, though,
do we run the risk of, you know, having some
towns and some people who live rurally just cut off
the map. I mean, I know that three G is
being phased out, and I don't know if you've tried
to drive the length of the country, but there are
definitely some pretty large dark spots in between there we
(10:41):
can't get internet absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
And again some of that TDL money, that levee money
has been spent on something called the Rural Connectivity Group,
which is it's basically the three main tailcoats that Spark
two degrees and one in a joint venture and they
built town was along remote roads and Chorus puts fiber
between some of the tech Most of the towers have
(11:05):
fiber to them and it goes to place. It's like
Milford Sound. There's there's a fiber now that goes into
Milford Sound and there's there's phone towls all along that road,
you know, and that's a pretty remote road. But we're
not there with one hundred percent coverage for sure, but
we improved, it's massively improved, and that those builds are
(11:27):
generally paid for by governments or by the.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Row from the levee.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
At the end of last year, Octas was here with
a twelve million dollar fine over people not being able.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
To connect to triple zero.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Now it has happened again, and only this time at
least three people have died. What is next, brobdis If
your network fails on a triple zero call, your phone
is meant to switch over to a different network to
get through. This is a mechanism Intelgoes must have in
place as for this act. And in this instance it's
clear that even the backup plans failed. Customers warning signs
were there in twenty twenty three, and now Australia's Communications
(12:04):
Minister says the telco giant will face significant consequences.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Now we've seen in Australia recently exactly how reliant we
are on our telco sectors. Australian officials have promised that
Optus will face significant consequences over a system's outage and
it's linked to multiple deaths. The incident left hundreds of
people across more than half of the country unable to
(12:31):
call emergency services for thirteen hours.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
At least three people died as a result. Could something
similar happen here?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yes, but no, And by that I mean it's complicated.
But look, when cyclone Gabrielle came through, people were cut
off for a long periods of time. The networks are
quite resilient, but they're not resilient enough, and Gabrielle exposed that.
Up until Gabrielle, we thought that if you had a
(13:03):
handful of cables going into an area like I think
it's Hawk's Bay that was worst affected towns like Wairoa
in Hawks Bay, they had a handful of lines going
into those places, but the lines went across bridges and
the bridges were wiped out and a couple of lines,
And it turns out that having tours three lines in
isn't enough.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
You need more.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
So we're building resilience into the network and we've been
doing a lot of work on that since Gabrielle and
Gabrielle's it was quite a wake up call for that.
But the other thing is is that increasingly we can
use satellites to go around that as well. So if
an area if part of the country's cut off because
the main links are down, satellite can fill in the gaps.
(13:44):
And you probably won't be able to stream Netflix in
high definition if you're in one of those areas time,
but you will be able to make voice calls, and
you will be able to make basic email calls and
send text messages and on. So it's less likely in
New Zealand because we do have more resilience. But the
interesting thing about that Australian episode was that the answer
(14:09):
to it, the government sees the answer to it, and
the industry sees the answer to that as fixing the regulations,
which is back to what we were talking about in
the first place, about those regular all those regulations that
they're in place for a purpose. They're not there just
because you know, pureaucrats enjoy imposing rules on the industry.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So if the Australia is looking at more regulations and
we're looking at scaling them.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Back, yes, yes, there's an element of truth in that.
We've probably my guess is is that the review is
not going to scale them back that much. There'll be
some tinkering, There'll be some things that go. There's probably
a couple of things which are past their cell by date,
like the rules around copper and so on. But in general,
I think we have and it's widely understood and even
(14:55):
within the industry it's widely understood. We have actually very
good regulations in this area.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
In terms of I mean you see something like the
you know, have your say for the Telecommunications sector regulate
regulatory framework and your every day key, we would just
look at that and turn the page.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Right, Why should every day key we care about this?
Speaker 4 (15:16):
There are people that are organized to do that. So,
for example, in rural areas, there are groups that lobby
for rural telecommunications.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I was that there's a Connecting a Toroa summit which
was in Hamilton earlier this year, which was run by
two ants now two ants is that is used to
be the Telecommunications Users Group of New Zealander, but it's
now the Technology Users of New Zealand. They advocate on
behalf of users and they would and so they were
(15:46):
put in submissions to things like that, but also things
like the Young Rural Doctors would put in a submission
and Federated Farmers would put in, you know, put in submissions,
and there are rural women's groups and so on which
submit so you so rather than having to read this
stuff yourself and get on top of what can be
(16:09):
quite complicated sets of rules and so on, you know,
go and talk to your Go and talk to one
of those organizations that would represent you.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Thanks for joining us, Bill, You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at NZDHERLD, dot co dot MZ. The Front Page is
produced by Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who is also
our editor. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front Page
on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah,
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