New Zealand telcos Spark, Vodafone, Chorus and 2degrees Mobile are set to pay more than 90% of the country’s $50 million telecommunications development levy which covers the operation of telecommunications infrastructure and services that are not commercially viable.
The payment obligations of 16 of the country’s telcos towards the levy have been outlined in a final decision by the competition regulator The Commerce Commission following its initial draft decision announced in October.
Under this final decision, the contribution of telco Compass has now increased after the company provided further information on its relevant revenue.
The Commission says the remaining 15 providers have seen their allocations marginally reduce as a result of the adjustment to the Compass contribution.
{loadposition peter}As well as covering the cost of commercially unviable services, the levy is also used to pay for the telephone relay service for the deaf, hearing and speech-impaired, broadband for rural areas, improvements to the 111 emergency service, and providing greater mobile coverage in mobile blackspots.
The levy equates to about 1% of telecommunications services revenue earned by telecommunications services providers in New Zealand and is paid by providers earning more than $10 million per year from operating a telecommunications network.
