Download Weekly: TCF calls for compulsory dispute resolution membership

The TCF echos Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson’s compulsory dispute resolution membership call. Chorus revenue capped at $3.3b. Schools network to use NCSC, CertNZ security services

TCF echos Gilbertson’s compulsory dispute resolution membership call

The Telecommunications Forum has backed proposals compelling all retail telecoms service providers to join an industry run dispute resolution service.

Its submission to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s discussion document on telecommunications regulatory and funding frameworks argues that “all consumers of telecommunications services should have access to a telecommunications dispute resolution scheme”.

The TCF says a specialist disputes resolution service is the best practice approach and would be better than relying on more general options.

Telecommunications Dispute Resolution

It helpfully suggests the existing Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) – which the TCF helped establish – as a suitable option.

In its submission the TCF backs similar calls made by Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson who first raised the issue in November 2021. At the time he said the high number of consumer complaints in the sector means the mechanism for resolving disputes needs to be more effective and that mandatory TDR membership would improve matters.

Another key point in the TCF submission is to extend statutory access rights for fibre installations. The rules in place at present are temporary with an approaching expiry date.

Bring Starlink into the TDL fold

The TCF wants satellite broadband providers to be included in the Telecommunications Levy, a fund used to pay for uncommercial but essential services along with additional rural network extensions.

In November 2023 I asked the Commerce Commission if Starlink had to pay the TDL. At that time, the satellite broadband provider did not meet the “qualifying reveneue” threshold although it was getting close. Presumably it now does make enough from NZ operations to be included.

The TCF opposes a proposal in the MBIE discussion document that the communications minister should have the power to increase the TDL. The TCF prefers maintaining the status quo for setting the levy amount through parliamentary processes where decisions would remain transparent.

Chorus revenue capped at $3.3b in ComCom draft decision

The Commerce Commission has set Chorus’s maximum allowable revenue for the years 2025 to 2028 at $3.3 billion in its draft decision. A final decision will be made by the end of the year.

Imposing price caps on Chorus’ revenue gives the Commerce Commission a degree of control over prices consumers pay for fibre connections. Chorus provides wholesale connections to retail service providers who then add their margins. In recent years these margins have risen slightly faster than wholesale prices.

Telecommunications Commissioner, Tristan Gilbertson says the Commission is proposing a “number of mechanisms” that will slow the rate of fibre plan price increases over the next four years. He says these changes could save consumers more than $250 million.

Quality standards

Along with the price caps, the Commerce Commission is revisiting the quality standards it imposes on Chorus.

One possible area of concern is the technician visits that are needed to connect a fibre service. The Commission says it continues to see complaints around Chorus meeting commitments.

Gilbertson says: “The proposed new standard sets a target threshold on meeting the agreed date of connection so Kiwis can have certainty around when they can expect to connect to the fibre network.”

New Zealand’s fibre regulations and the additional rules that apply only to Chorus were originally set at a time when officials feared new telecommunications monopolies might emerge following the reforms 15 years ago. The success of fixed wireless broadband and the arrival of satellite alternatives means that looks considerably less likely today.

Telcowatch charts Skinny’s falling market share

Skinny, Spark’s cut-price mobile brand, is the biggest loser in the latest Telcowatch survey.

The quarterly market share report for New Zealand’s mobile carriers shows Skinny’s market share fell 14.6 per cent in the three months to the end of June. It is the fourth quarter in a row the brand’s share has fallen. Today Skinny commands just six per cent of the market.

Parent company Spark also registered a decline dropping 2.2 per cent.

The main beneficiary of Spark and Skinny’s relative decline is 2degrees which has seen its market share climb 6.4 per cent in the quarter. One New Zealand is up a fraction with a 1.1 per cent increase.

When Spark and Skinny’s numbers combine, the pair remain the largest mobile operator with 39 per cent. One NZ is in second place with 35 per cent and 2degrees now sits on a 25 per cent market share.

The bigger picture is that New Zealand’s mobile market is relatively stable. Four years ago 2degrees was at 23 per cent, One NZ enjoyed a 37 per cent market share while Spark plus Skinny accounted for 41 per cent.

Schools network to use NCSC, CertNZ security services

Deals struck between Network for Learning, the National Cyber Security Centre and CertNZ, its Computer Emergency Response Team unit mean schools can now use the agencies’ cybersecurity services.

N4L says it is integrating the NCSC’s Malware Free Networks Service and Cert’s Phishing Disruption Service into the protection service it currently offers schools. The services are already live for schools on N4L’s Managed Network.

The crown-owned company was originally set up to provide schools with broadband as New Zealand entered the fibre era.

Its role has expanded to include in-school networks and it manages school cybersecurity for the Ministry of Education. This is a busy and important role: N4L says in the year to June 2023 it was behind almost 160 million security blocks.

Hayden Brown, who heads N4L’s security operations, says his organisation’s Security Operations Centre processes over 300,000 events per second across the managed network.

Threat intelligence

“Our new threat intelligence capability is an important part of a school’s armour against threats, alongside their following of good cybersecurity practices.

“This would include having an incident response plan and endpoint detection (anti-virus) protection in place, as well as reviewing their security controls, like multi-factor authentication.”

N4L says the tools will help it move fast to block specific New Zealand threats as well as international threats. It can adjust firewalls to counter new threats in near-real time. At the same time it means N4L can share intelligence about emerging threats with the agencies.

Powerco to share Chorus Coromandel dark fibre

Powerco, an Australian-owned energy distribution business, has inked an agreement with Chorus to use spare capacity on a recently upgraded 164 km fibre line in the Coromandel.

From Powerco’s perspective the fibre will form part of a project to improve electricity supply resilience in a region that has been in the front line of many recent severe storms. The energy company will use it for remote switching demand monitoring and other activities which are controlled out of its Network Operations Centre in Taranaki.

Chorus will use the cable for additional bandwidth between telephone exchanges on the peninsula.

Powerco says the Coromandel project will test the viability of operating shared communications infrastructure and is looking for similar future projects.

Powerco sees opportunities to deliver more projects like this in the future.

Most of the fibre will be installed on Powerco’s existing overhead network Where that is not available it will run underground.

One NZ moving to renewable electricity with Meridian

One New Zealand says it is now buying its electricity from certified renewable services.

Nicky Preston, who is One’s head of sustainability as well as leading the company’s corporate affairs says electricity makes up around 70 per cent of the company’s emissions. This makes it the most promising source for reducing carbon.

Like most New Zealanders, One NZ gets its power directly from the national grid, which mingles all forms of generation. The company buys electricity from renewable sources, so the amount it draws down only comes from wind, water or solar generation.

This is managed by the New Zealand Energy Certificate System (NZECS) which issues Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to Meridian for the energy generated by its hydro power stations and wind farms.

Certified renewable

Preston says: “We set a goal on our Sustainability Kaupapa released in August 2023 to be ‘100 per cent renewable by 2024’. We have achieved this for purchased electricity as of 1 April 2024, when we began purchasing Certified Renewable Energy.”

While that’s a good thing in its own right, it also means One NZ can report zero Scope 2 emissions. This compares with the company’s reported Scope 2 emissions for the year to 31 March 2024 which were of 7,552 tonnes of CO2e.

One NZ’s power is not yet at 100 per cent renewable because it still buys some electricity for its cell towers and retail stores from other sources. Preston says this adds up around 10 per cent of the total. The plan is to move this to renewable sources so that all the power used by the company will be renewable by 2030.

Spark unit joins Microsoft’s security club

Spark Business Group says it has joined the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association. MISA is a group of managed security service providers like Spark Business Group and software companies who aim to improve cybersecurity by collaborating.

Spark’s managed security service provider lead Patric Balmer says membership gives his team access to exclusive technical resources, marketing support and early access to innovative security solutions.

While MISA may give its members useful resources, critics suspect it is more a branding or marketing exercise than an effective security upgrade.

In other news...

Germany to phase out Huawei, ZTE components from its 5G core network
It’s five years since Huawei was locked out of 5G networks in most of the English-speaking nations. Now Germany has moved, but it won’t finish the job until 2029, which seems incredibly slow.

China isn’t happy, Reuters notes:

However, China's embassy in Germany said if Huawei were to be restricted or excluded it would not be without consequences, calling Berlin's plan a "ruthless attempt" to suppress competition and promote its own technology.
“Alleged risks to network security only serve as a pretext. The fact is: no country has yet provided conclusive evidence to what extent Huawei equipment poses a security risk," said the embassy on Thursday in response to a request for comment on reports on Wednesday about the plans.

Legislation for critical infrastructure cybersecurity past due
The story is behind a paywall, but quotes Palo Alto Australia and NZ regional chief security officer Alex Nehmy who says delays in the legislation put New Zealand at risk.

Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Increased 1.9% in Second Quarter of 2024

Worldwide PC shipments totalled 60.6 million units in the second quarter of 2024, a 1.9 per cent increase from the second quarter of 2023, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This marks three consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth for the PC market.

On its own, a 1.9 per cent increase in a quarter isn’t a big deal, yet three quarters in a row is positive.

In recent months PC makers have introduced product lines that add AI chips know as Neural Processing Units or NPUs. To date the market response has been lukewarm, but as Gartner points out, it is still early days.

Could A.I. make the modular phone a reality? This concept revives the ‘PhoneBloks’ dream with a twist
Modular phone designs have been a reality before. They were a big thing at the 2016 Mobile World Congress. LG dedicated an entire stand to its modular G5 phone. That was the first and last time I saw them: no-one was interested then. They won’t be now.

Few NZ SMEs have cybersecurity plans
You won’t be surprised to learn the recent MYOB Annual Business Monitor found that most local SMEs have no plans in place in the event of a cybersecurity breach.

The report says more than half (57 per cent) of New Zealand’s SMEs do not have processes in place to manage a cybersecurity incident, and only 49 per cent are concerned about the cybersecurity of their business.