Labour to write to Commerce Commission on spectrum sale

Labour will write to the Commerce Commission to ask that it prioritises a competitive mobile market, which has been put at risk by Amy Adams’ decision to sell down the 4G spectrum, says Labour’s associate Communication and IT spokesperson Clare Curran.

“Amy Adams’ decision to auction the remaining 4G spectrum will cause long term harm to New Zealand’s mobile market, enshrining the dominance of one player and taking the country back to the bad old days of the 1990s. She is repeating the mistakes made by her predecessor Maurice Williamson when the then National Government favoured Telecom.

“We need competition in such an important new market. Instead the auction will likely allow one player to preserve its already significant dominance perpetually.

“That’s why I will write to the Commerce Commission, which will authorise the purchase of the remaining spectrum, to ask it to prioritise a competitive mobile market.

“The Government does not seem to realise that there must be more than one player in 4G.

“Instead the Government is going for the quick bucks and re-auctioning the unsold spectrum that it should have kept as a strategic competitive reserve.

“A tactical mistake is being made here, because of a lack of thorough research and analysis by the Minister. She is repeating the mistakes she made with Chorus,” says Clare Curran.

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