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3 Methodology


There were five phases in the project:

Phase 1:

Informal discussions were held with a large territorial authority and a telecommunications industry representative to obtain a feel for the responses we might receive from stakeholders. The survey developed for territorial authorities was piloted with the authority that had been consulted.

Phase 2:

The formal territorial authority survey was sent out online to appropriate managers of all territorial authorities. Responses were gathered over a period of six weeks. Territorial authorities were asked about:

their workload

consent activity

community participation

implementation of the National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities (NESTF).

The survey and a summary of the responses are attached as appendices 2 and 3.

Phase 3:

The New Zealand Telecommunications Forum6 was approached to take part in the evaluation. Telecommunications industry representatives were asked about:

the overall impact of the NESTF

whether the NESTF had met its objectives

working with the NESTF

working with councils

community concerns with radio-frequency fields

whether the industry would like to see any changes made to the NESTF.


Phase 4:

Discussions were held with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Radio Spectrum Management Communications Team and Information Technology Policy Team) and the Commerce Commission. Discussions were also held with a New Zealand expert on the topic of radio-frequency fields, Mr Martin Gledhill.

Phase 5:

Phase 5 was the ‘snowball’ discussion phase with the New Zealand Contractors’ Federation and the New Zealand Utilities Advisory Group, which involved following up issues identified in the previous phases. Follow-up discussions were held with the Telecommunications Forum and Auckland Council, along with phone conversations with other councils who had made substantive comments in their survey responses. Discussions were held with Bronwyn Howell (Victoria University of Wellington) to gain an overview of the economics of telecommunications.

4 Analysis and discussion: Has the NESTF met its stated objectives?


The National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities (NESTF) was intended to create a nationally consistent planning framework for radio-frequency fields and for low-impact telecommunications infrastructure on road reserves installed by network operators licensed under the Telecommunications Act 2001. Whether the five policy objectives were met is summarised below. The evidence is discussed in the remainder of this section.

Table 1: A summary of the NESTF evaluation



Objective

Was it met?

1. Assist in network and equipment design and equipment sourcing for roll-outs

Yes

2. Create a reduction in compliance costs and timeframes for service providers

Mobile operators: yes

Fixed-line: a mixed experience

3. Reduce the timeframe and lower the costs for the availability of new services to consumers

4. Contribute to a reduced workload for councils in processing and determining consent applications

Yes

5. Set an appropriate balance between local participation in community planning and cost-effective national infrastructure investment

Industry: yes

Councils: 56% of survey respondents said yes

4.1 Objective 1: Assist in network and equipment design and equipment sourcing for roll-outs


According to industry feedback, equipment is designed to comply with the size and noise specifications stated in the NESTF. This is particularly the case for cabinets. Although New Zealand has little influence on international telecommunications equipment development, operators do use the specifications of the NESTF as assessment criteria when sourcing equipment from overseas.

Technology is continually evolving in telecommunications, and the NESTF was deliberately designed to be as ‘future proof’ as possible. For example, rather than specifying the dimensions of panel antennas, the NESTF describes dimensions within which the antenna must fit.

These future-proof dimensions are now out of date for some technology, as follows:

Antennas required for the 4G roll-out do not meet the permitted NESTF size envelope described in Regulation 7. These antennas have a 600 mm diameter, whereas the NESTF allows for a maximum 500 mm diameter.

Currently telecommunications operate in frequencies above 880 MHz, but the reallocation of the 700 MHz band from analogue to digital television broadcasting means that frequencies above 700 MHz will be freed up. While the technology required to accommodate this lower frequency is still being developed overseas, it is likely that its dimensions will exceed the NESTF envelope.

New antennas accommodate multiple frequencies and tend to be larger than their single-band predecessors.

Regulation 7 would need to be revisited if the NESTF were to accommodate the new lower-frequency and multi-band technology.



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