A new direction for TUANZ

TUANZ have announced:

Building on 30 years of representing telecommunications users, TUANZ is setting out in a new strategic direction to ensure New Zealanders can make the most of the digitally connected world.

TUANZ vision is to work collaboratively with industry and government to make sure that by 2020 New Zealand is among the top ten countries for business use of digital technology.[1]

TUANZ Chair Pat O’Connell says TUANZ has always been and will remain an independent and professional organisation that represents the interests of the users of digital technology.

“Our role will continue to be to put the business user at the centre of industry and government decision making in a sector that is going to define our economy for the foreseeable future”, says O’Connell.

This is a sensible new direction for TUANZ.

Since the 1980s TUANZ has been at the forefront of advocating for better deals for businesses and consumers in telecommunications. They’ve played a big role in helping us get to where we are where we pay a fraction of what we used to.

But the major regulatory battles are won. Local loop unbundling is done and dusted. Telecom has had first operational and now structural separation. Mobile phone interconnection rates have fallen away. Competition is not perfect, but our regulatory settings are now pretty good.

So a shift in emphasis from the regulatory issues to usage and technology is sensible.