The Commerce Commission has released a draft report on its review of where Telecom faces competition in the provision of backhaul services for the unbundled copper local loop.

Backhaul is the final link connecting competitors to Telecom’s local loop, so those competitors can provide communication services such as voice and broadband to households. It is only regulated where Telecom faces limited competition.

The decision concludes that on two further links Telecom is subject to competition from other providers of backhaul services. On these links, backhaul will no longer be a regulated service.

“Because a number of Telecom’s exchanges have been unbundled since the last review, the draft review decision also assesses 25 links for the first time,” said the Commerce Commission. “On all of these links the Commission has found no evidence that Telecom is subject to competition from other providers of backhaul services and these links will therefore be available as regulated backhaul services.

Parties can email submissions on the Commission’s draft report by 5pm on Friday, August 13th. Submissions should be emailed through to telco@comcom.govt.nz.

After considering submissions, the Commission expects to release the final review report and give public notice of the result of the review by the end of August 2010.

The draft review report can be accessed on the Commission’s website.