Glossary of terms
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Commerce Commission: A New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition and fair trading, including specific functions in relation to telecommunications.
Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP): Formally Crown Fibre Holdings, CIP was originally established to manage the government’s investment in ultra-fast broadband infrastructure.
Fibre: Fibre-optic cables and associated equipment that allow optical transmission between points at very high speeds.
Local Fibre Company (LFC): There are four local fibre companies: Chorus, Tuatahi First Fibre Limited (previously known as Ultrafast Fibre Limited), Enable Networks Limited and Northpower Fibre Limited, as defined in section 156AB of the Telecommunications Act 2001.
Note: ‘other’ LFC is used in this document to refer to the three local fibre companies that are not Chorus (ie Tuatahi First Fibre, Enable and Northpower Fibre), reflecting the different regulatory settings between Chorus and the ‘other’ LFCs.
Low-earth orbit satellites: Satellites that orbit the Earth at a lower height (often less than 2,000 kilometres) than geostationary satellites and are in constant movement relative to the earth’s surface. These satellites are often deployed in larger interconnected groups known as constellations.
Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model): The OSI model is a theoretical framework used to explain the different parts of a telecommunication network. It has seven layers that range from the physical layer (ie fibre cables) to the application layer (ie a web browser).
Regulated fibre service provider: A person who is prescribed in regulations made under section 226 of the Telecommunications Act 2001 as being subject to one or both of information disclosure and price-quality regulation.
Telecommunications Act 2001 (the Act): The Act that provides the regulatory underpinning for our telecommunications networks.
Telecommunications Development Levy: Created to fund certain public good initiatives for the benefit of telecommunications consumers in New Zealand. Each year the Commerce Commission determines, according to statutory criteria, which telecommunications operators are liable for this levy.
The New Zealand Telecommunications Forum (TCF): A key telecommunications industry association. The TCF facilitates the development of self-regulatory codes, which set standards and specifications for the way members interact on industry-wide issues.
Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) Initiative: The competitive tender programme to develop fibre-to-the-premises broadband, with the support of $1.75 billion of Government investment. It includes UFB1, UFB2 and extensions to UFB2.