Draft bill for telcos

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The Commerce Commission has issued a draft calculation of the proportion of the cost payable by phone companies to service unprofitable telecommunications customers for the year ended June 30.

Under the telecommunications service obligation - the successor to the Kiwi share - Telecom is obliged to provide certain local residential phone services to residential customers who may not otherwise receive those services at an affordable price.

In a draft determination released yesterday, the commission said Telecom was liable for 66.6 per cent of the as yet undecided cost.

It proposed that 25.2 per cent fall on Vodafone, 6.3 per cent on TelstraClear, 0.8 per cent on 2degrees, and the rest on nine smaller telcos. Submissions on the draft close on November 30.