Seeking feedback on telecommunications regulatory and funding frameworks

About the consultation

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) provides advice to the Government on telecommunications policy and regulation. We sought feedback on a number of telecommunications regulatory issues, and in some cases, proposed options for addressing them. The feedback we received was used to inform our advice to the Minister for Media and Communications on what changes may be required.

What we sought feedback on

The discussion document sought feedback on 7 issues:

• Consumer access to dispute resolution
• Accessing shared property for fibre installations
• Telecommunications levy settings
• Identifying participants in the market
• Enhancing information flow to the Emergency Location Information System
• Governance settings in the company constitutions of Enable Networks, Tuatahi First Fibre, and Northpower Fibre
• Other matter such as specified fibre areas and minor changes and clarifications.

Regulatory changes on telecommunications regulatory funding and frameworks

In March 2025, the Minister for Media and Communications announced a suite of amendments to telecommunications regulatory and funding frameworks.

These regulatory changes include:

• Amending the constitutions of local fibre companies (Enable Networks, Tuatahi First Fibre and Northpower) to align with the permitted activities of Chorus in the Telecommunications Act 2001
• Permanently reinstating the rights that allow access to shared property for fibre installations and the protection mechanisms for affected persons, with a minor increase in the scope of permitted activities
• Amending the Telecommunications Act to mandate membership in an industry dispute resolution scheme for retail telecommunication service providers with an annual telecommunications revenue over $10 million
• Amending the Telecommunications Act so that industry dispute resolution schemes can emerge from outside the telecommunications industry, provided they serve the telecommunications industry and have notified the Commerce Commission for the purposes of its review under the Telecommunications Act
• Amending the Telecommunications Act to create a new regulation-making power that would enable the Telecommunications Development Levy amount to be set in regulations
• Amending the Telecommunications Act and Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Act 2013 so that offshore telecommunications providers are explicitly subject to relevant parts of these Acts
• Creating a new enforcement regime in legislation so that a party’s ability to hold or use radio spectrum licences can be prohibited or restricted in circumstances where the party does not comply with relevant New Zealand telecommunications law, and existing enforcement mechanisms are exhausted or not feasible.

The Minister for Media and Communications is proactively releasing the following:

• Cabinet paper: Improving Telecommunications Regulatory and Funding Frameworks
• Cabinet minute: CBC-24-MIN-0124 Improving Telecommunications Regulatory and Funding Frameworks
• Regulatory Impact Statement: Improving telecommunications regulatory and funding frameworks

Some information has been withheld for the following reasons:

• Confidential information entrusted to the Government
• Commercial information
• Active consideration

Relevant documents