Minister wary of regulation

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams remains cautious about using regulation to control the delivery of premium content, such as live sport and first-run movies, over a high-speed internet platform.

In the past few years, new supplies of video content had emerged in overseas markets, she said in a speech yesterday to the Commerce Commission.

The new suppliers had provided services in a more flexible way than traditional subscriptions and free-to-air broadcasters.

"While the innovative services that have been launched in overseas markets are yet to make a significant impact here, I'm concerned that premature government action could in fact stifle innovation in this space."

There had also been calls for a single regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications to deal with issues of that kind. However, Ms Adams remained equally sceptical about the benefits of shaking up the regulatory structure to deal with an issue that had yet to form into a clear shape and that the markets might yet solve.

Prime Minister John Key had referred to it as "a solution in search of a problem," and Ms Adams said she shared that view.

"I'm mindful that this industry has been through a period of considerable regulatory change in recent years and my preference would be to let those changes bed in before more upheaval, where that was possible."

The current regulatory structure had not prevented the commission from performing a useful role in gathering information about the way video content markets worked, she said.

The commission's function was likely to be concerned with competition and market dynamics, as was appropriate for an economic regulator.

It would be up to the Government to balance the broader interests of consumers and stakeholders in the context of the ultrafast broadband (UFB) policy objectives.

There would need to be clear evidence of a significant long-term problem for the Government to cut across the market response, Ms Adams said.

"You should know that I will continue to monitor developments very closely for evidence of the innovative and flexible solutions that are beginning to emerge overseas. I would be disappointed not to see signs of this occurring."

Ms Adams is in Dunedin tomorrow to mark the start of the launch of UFB in Dunedin.

The minister made it clear yesterday that besides actively encouraging the uptake of the UFB and rural broadband initiative (RBI) in key sectors, she wanted to ensure New Zealanders got the performance quality and the services they were expecting from both UFB and RBI at an affordable price and on a transparent and readily comparable basis.

That required the whole end-to-end network being reliable and working efficiently and effectively. It also required that consumers and businesses knew what they were paying for.

The Government had a project, led by the Ministry of Economic Development, that was looking to benchmark and monitor factors that might limit uptake and consider whether there should be greater transparency around product offerings.

"While I will be closely monitoring issues that might limit uptake or the effective implementation of faster broadband, I expect industry to show leadership in resolving such issues.

"Where that does not occur, I'm more prepared to step in. But I'm also aware that regulation can be a blunt tool."

Industry-driven solutions were better for industry and customers, and were more enduring, Ms Adams said.

dene.mackenzie@odt.co.nz