Sweeping government reforms have finally paved the way for an improvement in wholesale access for Telecom New Zealand’s competitors via local loop unbundling. However, access providers must still wait until 2008 for its introduction. In September 2007 the New Zealand government announced that it was going ahead with its plan to split Telecom New Zealand into three separate operational units to provide retail, wholesale and network services. Number portability was officially launched in New Zealand on April 1st 2007 for both mobile and fixed services. Following a meeting with the mobile operators in October 2007, the Commerce Commission seems set to require new entrants to build out their networks to 80% of the population within five years in return for the right to roam. In March 2008, the Commission issued a final recommendation to the New Zealand Minister of Communications regarding the regulation of mobile roaming.
