Peter Nowak: Enough talk - it's action time

Although it's too early to say with any certainty, it looks like Labour's David Cunliffe is going to stay on as Communications Minister.

Most pundits believe this is a good thing. Cunliffe's National counterpart, Maurice Williamson, is a hands-off man who favours market-led solutions over regulation - an attitude some say is stuck in the 80s.

Cunliffe, on the other hand, took over the position from Paul Swain just under a year ago, and in a short time has demonstrated he's not afraid to solve problems through regulation. Some see him as the great hope to introduce the rules that will finally even the communications playing field.

Both candidates for the job tapped into a common vein - anti-Telecom sentiment - in the weeks leading up to the election, with tough talk about the company designed to gain votes. With Cunliffe seemingly the victor, it's now time for him to walk the walk.

Chief among his promises was a rather weakly worded threat to take action against Telecom if it doesn't meet its wholesale broadband internet targets. Telecom needs to sign up 250,000 broadband customers by the end of the year, with one third of those coming through wholesale resellers, or "action will follow", Cunliffe repeatedly pledged.

He expanded on that threat last week with a policy statement that somewhat clarified his intentions. If Telecom doesn't meet those targets, he will "consider amending the wholesaling provisions of the Telecommunications Act to ensure it is in line with international best practice, including reviewing approaches taken in the EU, the UK and Australia".

It's a poorly worded statement for two reasons. First, the word "consider" is a qualifier that means nothing. Labour could also consider an armed invasion of Telecom's headquarters, or even exiling company executives to Mars - that doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Secondly, the statement also opens up room for a whole lot of inference of meaning. Telecom's reaction was spot on: what exactly is international best practice? And why should what applies in the EU, UK and Australia apply here? And exactly what are the review approaches being taken in those places? Can they be summarised?

In Australia, Telstra has been operating with a "Chinese wall" between its broadband wholesale and retail arms, and there is talk of moving toward full structural separation. In Europe, meanwhile, there's been lots of noise about separations and unbundling local loops, permanently and temporarily.

Are these options viable here? Cunliffe wouldn't specify last week, saying only that these examples presented a spectrum of possibilities, and New Zealand could find itself somewhere on that spectrum. Again, that's pretty vague.

Telecom in all likelihood won't meet the one-third wholesale goal - it's currently at about 15 per cent. So how close would be close enough? If the company falls a few thousand customers short, will this review still kick in?

Again, Cunliffe wouldn't commit. He did say Telecom's momentum would be examined - whether it had stepped up its wholesaling initiatives over the past few months. Telecom says that momentum has indeed increased and has reached more than a third recently.

It sounds like a back door for Labour is quietly taking shape. It's tough talk on Telecom, without really being all that tough.

Cunliffe looks to have won the job, but over the next few months he's going to have to dump the vague statements and make some difficult decisions. Otherwise it will all amount to what he accused his opponent of - sound and fury signifying nothing.