By RICHARD BRADDELL
WELLINGTON - Cheaper and better telephone services should flow from recommendations made by the Government's telecommunications inquiry, its chairman, Hugh Fletcher, said yesterday.
Among the recommendations is the appointment of an industry regulator who would have wide powers to "designate" and then regulate areas of concern in the industry and set prices if necessary.
The inquiry's draft report was issued yesterday, and Mr Fletcher said it should improve competition and ensure efficient investment.
"If it's doing those things, we will see lower prices, we will see greater volumes, greater innovation," Mr Fletcher said.
This would benefit users and lift business profits.
The plan for a regulator was welcomed by Clear Communications but Telecom was not so keen.
Its general manager of Government and industry relations, Bruce Parkes, said a formal regulator would encourage industry players to argue before the regulator rather than negotiate.
The inquiry also had strong views on the Kiwi share, under which Telecom is required to provide free local calling, even in remote areas where it could be losing money.
Mr Parkes opposed the recommendation that free local calling be enshrined in legislation rather than in Telecom's constitution.
He also said he was surprised that the inquiry had concluded that losses associated with the Kiwi share obligation be footed by Telecom alone, particularly since parties as diverse as Federated Farmers and Clear Communications had accepted the principle that they be shared around the industry.
In a recommendation that could hasten the introduction of cheaper, but revenue-generating, high-speed Internet connections, the inquiry also said that the free status of low-speed, dial-up Internet links should be confirmed in any revision of the Kiwi share.
It also recommended that Telecom be required to provide an outline of its intentions for upgrading rural areas that cannot receive the Internet.
Mr Parkes said that about 5 per cent of the network - around 95,000 lines - was unable to carry Internet, but half of that was because of interference from electric fences and other equipment.
The balance was due to radio connections designed to carry voice only. They would be upgraded over time.
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