Guidelines were issued under Part 7 of Telecommunications Act 2001
New Zealand’s Commerce Commission announced that it is consulting on the newly updated Broadband Marketing Guidelines, with the goal of further boosting the ability of consumers to compare and choose the best service for their needs.
The revised guidelines focus on clarifying broadband speed disclosures and standardising the grounds for an “exit right” to prevent lock-in issues, according to the Commission’s news release.
The guidelines were initially issued under Part 7 of the Telecommunications Act 2001, which dealt with retail service quality matters, subsequently converted into industry codes by the Telecommunications Forum (TCF).
The consultation aims to address concerns about marketing conduct and to reduce consumer confusion, particularly during the transition away from copper, said the Commission’s news release.
The consultation is open until 6 November. The Commission urged interested stakeholders to send feedback to [email protected].
The guidelines are being updated following a review of the original guidance issued in 2021, the Commission’s news release explained.
The Commerce Commission’s review revealed a positive industry response and an improvement in broadband marketing conduct across the board, especially for Kiwis coming off copper, where complaints have decreased by 36%, said Tristan Gilbertson, telecommunications commissioner.
“We’re pleased to see that, off the back of this industry engagement, Kiwis are now getting more of the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions,” Gilbertson said in the Commission’s news release.
Gilbertson noted in the news release that the Commission’s review assisted in identifying opportunities for improvement in certain areas to further advance consumer comparison and choice.
“Providers have moved away from the unhelpful and confusing practice of using ‘up to’ theoretical maximum speeds and are instead using independently verified speeds from the Commission’s Measuring Broadband New Zealand (MBNZ) programme which tell consumers what speeds they're likely to get in real life,” Gilbertson said in the news release.
“This feeds into a key requirement of the original guidelines that providers should offer consumers an ‘exit right’ if real world performance is materially different to what was advertised,” Gilbertson added in the news release.
According to Gilbertson, the Commission seeks to standardise the materiality test, which varies among providers, so that all consumers can receive equal treatment and can more consistently exit without being penalised if they encounter performance problems.
The review also showed that some providers displayed MBNZ speeds for fibre broadband but not for wireless broadband, a practice leading to an information gap for consumers, Gilbertson shared in the news release.
“Speeds are very useful to consumers when comparing plans and identifying what’s right for them – so we want to make sure that peak time download and upload speeds are always provided whenever available from MBNZ,” Gilbertson said in the news release.
Gilbertson added that the Commission aims to provide consumers with access to at least 12 months of information relating to usage and spend so that they can decide whether they are on the plan and technology most suitable to their usage and spend.
Gilbertson expressed expectations that providers would correct any gaps in compliance and that the TCF would flow through any changes to industry codes within six months of the finalisation of the revised guidelines.
