Telecom move criticised

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 4

Telecom move criticised

PA Auckland New Zealand may be making a big mistake by deregulating the Telecom network, a European telecommunications unionist says.

A senior organiser with the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International, Mr Phillip Bowyer, said a decision by the European Economic Community’s Council of Ministers last month to preserve the network monopolies of the 12 major telecommunications operators was proof New Zealand was moving in the wrong direction. He has represented four million postal and telecommunications workers in eight years of discussions on network deregulation throughout Europe. Mr Bowyer said the Council of Ministers made its decision on technical and social grounds. Evidence put before the council showed that in the near future, 60 per cent of all employment in Europe would depend on telecom-

munications, he said. ■ It decided that because of its importance to the European economy, the service should be managed in a controlled fashion. Mr Bowyer said technological advances were making a totally integrated European network possible. The integrated network would enable a wide range of services to be carried on the one network and provide the impetus for a major expansion in the industry, he said. The social obligations of the telecommunications industry were also recognised. Mr Bowyer said a programme had been set up to help the network penetrate remote areas. The council understood

that because of .the importance of the network to businesses, any area deprived of services would be destined to become a backward region. The British experience, which was a big influence on the council decision, showed that competition was to the detriment of residential users and those in remote areas. “You now have the ironic situation in England where 20,000 jobs were shed in the name of competition, but British Telecom needs to contract 300 technicians from Irish Telecom to keep its London network running,” Mr Bowyer said. Network competition in New Zealand would slow progress to a fully integrated system and could stifle the telecommunications boom here, he said.