The Telecommunications Users Association, representing around 400 corporate customers, does God's work.Tuanz pushes for change – and usually succeeds – in areas like mobile termination rates, and (now) international roaming charges, and
The Telecommunications Users Association, representing around 400 corporate customers, does God’s work.
Tuanz pushes for change – and usually succeeds – in areas like mobile termination rates, and (now) international roaming charges, and punitive mobile-to-0800 charges.
It’s also often struggling for cash.
At the recent Tuanz awards, chairman Pat O’Connell told the audience that funding by “public purse” would be one option to make his organisation’s revenue more secure.
(A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Steven Joyce told NBR there had been no discussion of that option.)
Tuanz director Chris O’Connell mused to NBR about a second option: a so-called “super-user roll-up”, or a merger between Tuanz and InternetNZ.
Chris O’Connell seemed to think the option at worth least considering – in his personal opinion, as he subsequently elaborated on in a comment after a Computerworld editorial that canvassed the idea of a Tunaz-InternetNZ merger.
Certain logic
The idea has a certain logic to it.
Tuanz advocates for telecommunications users.
InternetNZ advocates for internet users, examining areas such as copyright, and feasible options for the government’s ultrafast broadband project.
The two areas are, of course, converging.
There are already some cross-pollination: management Michael Foley is already both a Tuanz board member and InternetNZ councillor (as well as director of the Domain Name Commission); Pat O’Connell stood for the InternetNZ council last year.
And whereas Tuanz frequently manages to punch through into mainstream media, a recent InternetNZ study found many of its own members see it as “boring.” Its council is dominated by white Wellington males (though it has to be said some of its recently elected reps, who include super-contrarian Lance Wiggs, are likely to amp up its profile).
Tuanz: interested
There was talk of a “back-office” merger a couple of years back, which went nowhere.
Today, Tuanz chief executive Ernie Newman is, like Chris O’Connell, broadly open to exploring the idea.
“Tuanz is always receptive to structures and alliances that will use the scarce resources of the user community more effectively,” Mr Newman told NBR.
(Although he added “ as far as I know there is nothing actively being looked at right now”).
InternetNZ: not
InternetNZ President Frank March offered a blunter response: “InternetNZ has no intentions of merging with anyone.”
Talking to insiders, a Tuanz-InternetNZ merger seems totally off the table.
But not only that.
"Climate of resentment"
A second rumour is also doing the rounds – that a spurned Tuanz is shaping up to go to the Commerce Commission to challenge InternetNZ’s monopoly on administering domain names (.co.nz web addresses) in New Zealand and the regular revenue that affords (InternetNZ wholesales domain names to retailers, called registrars, such as Domainz).
“Tuanz has no action point to write to the commission on this topic,” Mr Newman told NBR.
Offered Mr March: "We are confident that InternetNZ management of the .nz registry provides a world class service for NZers and is highly cost effective." (There have been a series of wholesale price cuts, including one that kicked in July 1, taking the price of a .nz domain from $18 to $15 a year – though not all retailers have passed on the cut).
But while a ComCom complaint is not on the cards, one industry insider – who moves in Tuanz, NZICT, TCF and TIG circles, made no bones about the fact he would like to see some kind of putsch against InternetNZ.
“There is a climate of resentment against InternetNZ,” among other user groups, said the insider.
“I am aware of a sizable, mounting discontent about the about what amounts to a large slush fund of public money [from the sale of .nz domain names] that should be going to user-advocacy but goes to InternetNZ by right.”
The government should look at spreading revenue from domain names around a number of user groups, or at least put it up for tender every three years, he said (InternetNZ administers the .nz domain on behalf of the internet’s international body, ICANN).
The government agency that could effect such change was the Ministry of Economic Development, the inside mused – but he also noted that an MED mandarin (Mr March) was president of InternetNZ.
