Minutes of Public Policy Committee - 21 November 2007

Present:

David Farrar, Peter Macaulay, Chris Streatfield, Simon Riley, Hamish MacEwan.

Phone:

Judy Speight, David Diprose, Rick Shera.

In attendance:

Keith Davidson, Campbell Gardiner, Michael Wigley.

Opened: 3.15pm

Apologies

Peter Dengate Thrush, Julian Kersey, Carl Penwarden, Frank March. Stewart Fleming.

Minutes of Last Meeting – 4 October 2007                                               

Minutes of last meeting adopted as a true and accurate record.

Action Points / Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes                      

AP1 - David Farrar to review Action Points from last meeting with staff in next few days and report back to list.

Operational Separation Submission

Discussion on LLU and the uncompetitive nature of Telecom’s cabinetisation plans, released today.

AP2 – Staff to write letter to Mark Ratcliffe and Matt Crockett congratulating them on their appointments as ANS and Wholesale CEOs. Also, staff and David Farrar to draft a letter to Ratcliffe expressing concern with the anti-competitive nature of cabinetisation and seek consultation to achieve EOI on this.

AP3 – Keith and David Farrar to meet with the Minister re: Telecom’s behaviour.

Detailed discussion on InternetNZ’s draft submission in response to Telecom’s draft operational separation undertakings. Michael Wigley spoke to each section of the document, asking for feedback.

Section 3 – Wholesale Division - David Diprose disagreed with Section 3. He doesn’t consider LLU to be a legacy service and that the LLU principle can apply to fibre as well. It could, in future, include fibre unbundling. In addition, he maintains LLU is far superior to wholesale bitstream.

Simon noted we shouldn’t use Telecom’s undertakings as a vehicle for trying to solve the broader set of issues the industry is facing. Trying to solve specific issues will be left to ComCom.

Michael will tweak the submission to make it more prescriptive.

Hamish McEwan joined the meeting at 3.45pm.

Section 9 – Implementation Timeframes – Our submission takes a high-level approach in respect to implementation timeframes. With Telecom’s undertakings having limited detail on timeframes the industry has a special responsibility to take the lead.

Simon suggested working collectively to manage issues around the migration timeframe; such as in the UK, where the industry works through issues with the incumbent.

It was agreed there may be some value in using the TCF to confirm timeframes with Telecom. Keith believes the most important issue for InternetNZ is getting the policy arena sorted. It will then be up to industry to get the work done in working groups.

Section 4 - Governance – Discussion on clause 8. David Farrar suggested including two or three governance examples from the Appendix into the main body of the submission.

Section 5 – Independent Oversight Group – As above; include examples from the Appendix into the main body of the submission.

Section 6 - Fibre to the Premises – Discussion on clause 6.2 – Michael noted that, strictly speaking, Telecom are required to provide commercial details around fibre to the premises. Diprose, in response, thinks we should push hard for equivalent access to fibre. David Farrar thinks, overall, section 6 is very good.

Section 7 – NGN Access (and the need for consultation) - Telecom cuts back on consultation obligations in their draft undertaking, and we should push them hard on that. All agreed that we should be making that point quite strongly.

Section 8 – Incentives – David Farrar noted that this is one of the strongest sections in the submission.

Future process – Michael was advised to keep circulating drafts as significant progress is made. He is to provide an update on Thursday.

AP4 – Staff to prepare a draft media release re: our submission on Telecom’s draft undertakings.

David Farrar thanked Michael and his team for their work on the submission.

Government ID Submission

Keith and David Farrar to liaise directly on this issue and see if involvement is needed.

Digital Summit Activity

Keith, Peter, David Farrar and Campbell are attending the Summit.

Broadband Campaign – Fibre, Rural Broadband

No update in light of Operational Separation.

Parliamentary Internet Caucus (PIC)

Peter Dengate was guest speaker at the last PIC, which was opportune. David Farrar noted that he gave a good presentation. Also, that Hon Judith Tizard expressed a desire for InternetNZ to change from being lobbyers to advisors.

AP5 – Keith, Peter and David Farrar to respond to Tizard’s offer and think of constructive suggestions we can make.

AP6 – Staff to note attendees of each PIC and develop fact sheets on upcoming PICs.

David Farrar noted that Foo Camp is coming up. Peter is attending.

Copyright

On hold. The government is still halfway through its second reading. The Greens, however, are talking to Labour on some of our amendments.

Cyberlaw Fellow

We are advertising for a new Cyberlaw Fellow. Publication of last year’s work is close. There is a Cyberlaw meeting next week with the management group.

Peering Public Consultation

The peering report has been out for consultation since early November. There is not much to focus on until the deadline for comment (December 7) passes. Keith noted that the deadline may be relaxed.

Simon noted that, to date, comments on the peering blog and media coverage has been marginal and suggested we might want to consider being “pro-active”. David Farrar noted it will be useful if we provide the Minister with an update on peering prior to Foo Camp.

Related Organisations

ISPANZ – Keith has been renegotiating with ISPANZ regarding INZ communications support, and there is no change. There were no other substantive changes regarding ISPANZ to report.

Netsafe – is relocating its from Queen Street to Newmarket due to rising rents. InternetNZ may look at renting some space downtown rather than occupy Netsafe’s new Newmarket offices.

TUANZ – recent feedback sees TUANZ positive about its relationship with InternetNZ. There is the possibility of future strategic discussions with TUANZ in respect of industry issues.

ICT-NZ/HiGrowth - Peter noted that the Intellect UK model proposed is not a good fit for New Zealand. Brief discussion on the government announcement and Cabinet Paper followed. Keith noted that this issue is beyond the realms of Pub-Pol and will be covered at the upcoming Executive Committee meeting.

Miscellaneous – Keith reminded the meeting of the domain name dispute seminar on December 6.

Internet and Legal Jurisdiction Seminar

David’s is yet to write his seminar briefing note but hopes to complete shortly. The seminar is tentatively slated for February or March 2008; Cyberlaw Fellow Philip Greene will have returned to the US by then but we may look at the cost benefit of bringing him back if the seminar looks to be well-subscribed.

General Business

Hamish asked that Pub-Pol and Tech-Pol Committee meeting dates are included on the InternetNZ calendars. Keith said he thought they already were.

AP7 – Staff to check whether Pub-Pol and Tech-Pol meetings feature on the calendars. If not, to include.

Meeting closed: 4.51pm

Date of next meeting: To be confirmed.

Signed as a true and correct record:

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David Farrar, Chair

Action Points Register as at: 21 November 2007