The Commerce Commission today announced that it will be issuing a further discussion paper on the pricing of services over Chorus's copper local loop network. The Commission is also extending the timeframe for the final stages of re-benchmarking the unbundled copper local loop service (UCLL) price.

"The further discussion paper will provide clarification for submitters on the relationship between the different copper based services," said Dr Ross Patterson, Telecommunications Commissioner. "This discussion paper will provide an input into the rescheduled conference."

A further discussion paper is expected to be released in July, with submissions due in August, and a conference held in September. It is anticipated that a final decision will be made before 30 November 2012. These new dates do not have any impact on the original timing for when any new pricing will come into effect. As indicated in the draft determination, this is 1 December 2012.