KEY POINTS:
Telecommunications lobby group Tuanz is promoting broadband internet and telecoms political policy as an election issue this year, as it was in Australia's November poll.
Tuanz says the issue already became a summer "around the barbecue" talking point.
Vice-chairman of the advocacy group Chris O'Connell says political parties'
policies on telecoms are still unclear, so the debate is like "boxing at shadows".
Tuanz chief executive Ernie Newman said there appeared to be some convergence of views, but there was no sign of a cross-party approach to future policy as occurred with the Telecommunications Act in 2006.
The act set in place the split of Telecom into three divisions for wholesale, retail and networks - a process that will be set in stone after Monday.
But Tuanz says politicians need to go further than the Telecom split to improve services and ensure that New Zealand is not left behind in development of the telecoms-based economy.
A Tuanz election-year "manifesto" says that after-the-split expectations had to get higher.
It focuses on fibre optic cable to replace copper wire for delivery of telecoms, and calls for a new agency to administer policy.
"The Ministry of Economic Development is no longer the appropriate agency to deal with telecommunications policy. Instead a digital-age government agency modelled on Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority should be established."
Labour's stated goal is to reach the top half of the OECD's broadband performance by 2010 and the top quartile by 2015.
The stocktake and regulatory reforms have laid the platform to achieve the goal; however, it is the Government's view that further intervention is necessary, said a spokeswoman for Communications Minister David Cunliffe.
But National, as with most of its policies, is refusing to indicate the direction of its telecoms policies.
Should National win this year's election, interest will focus on whether communications spokesman Maurice Williamson becomes Communications Minister, a position he held from 1990 to 1999.
During that time Williamson and National - under heavy lobbying from Telecom - were criticised for ignoring calls for regulation and unbundling of the local loop.
The Tuanz manifesto is a call to arms to make big improvements over the two parliamentary terms to 2014.
It says that replacing 20th-century copper wires with 21st-century fibre-optic cable, all the way to customers' premises, should be recognised as a national strategic economic priority.
Unless the political will exists to tackle the connectivity issues that currently plague New Zealand businesses and homes, Tuanz says, we will condemn our young people to living in a country with Third World communications.
Meanwhile, Tuanz says it is broadly happy with Cunliffe's stewardship of the portfolio but is concerned that his workload - he is also Minister of Health - limits the time he can spend on telecommunications.
