Wellington, Jan 15 NZPA - The Commerce Commission today launched its first review of Telecom's backhaul services, the final link connecting competitors to Telecom's local loop and bitstream services.

The backhaul services support the unbundled copper local loop (UCLL) landline and unbundled bitstream (UBA) broadband services, allowing competitors to access transmission capacity between Telecom's local exchanges or data switches and their networks.

Commerce Commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock said the commission indicated last June that it would regularly review the link.

It was the first time the commission built an automatic review of the level of competition into its decision.

The review would determine whether access seekers had access to the regulated UCLL backhaul service.

If the commission found Telecom did not face limited, or is unlikely to face lessened, competition in relation to specific primary and secondary links of the UCLL backhaul service, it may not be obliged to supply the regulated backhaul service to users, Ms Rebstock said.

In these circumstances, competitive pressure should result in supply of such backhaul services to access seekers on reasonable commercial terms, she said.

Providers and purchasers are able to make submissions on the subject.

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