Spark warns of price rises after copper decision pushes up costs; shares fall

Mon, 01 Dec 2014

By Paul McBeth Dec. 2 (BusinessDesk) - Spark New Zealand, formerly Telecom Corp, is reviewing its prices, saying today's Commerce Commission draft decision on wholesale copper line pricing threatens to push up the telecommunications company's costs. The shares fell. Auckland-based Spark anticipates input costs will rise by an annual $60 million as a result of Telecommunications Commissioner Stephen Gale's proposal to raise the monthly total charge allowable for the unbundled copper local loop (UCLL) and for unbundled bitstream access (UBA...

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