DOIA REQ 0025973 Sam Brown Decision in Principle Letter.pdf

6 March 2026

Ref: DOIA-REQ-0025973

Sam Brown
Email: [FYI request #33445 email]

Tēnā koe Sam

Thank you for your email of 6 January 2026 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE) requesting, under the Oﬃcial Information Act 1982 (the Act), the fol owing information:

1.  Any analysis of how government funding decisions, policy settings, or regulatory frameworks have
inﬂuenced competitive dynamics in rural telecommunications markets, including whether these
impacts were assessed during policy development.
2.  Any advice to Ministers regarding unintended consequences of policy settings that may accelerate
market concentration or elimination of terrestrial connectivity providers from rural areas.
3.  Any assessment of risks associated with rural telecommunications transitioning from multiple
competing providers using diverse technologies to eﬀective single-provider dominance, including:
•  consumer protection implications if the dominant provider later raises prices significantly;
•  infrastructure resilience concerns if alternative networks are economically abandoned; and
•  whether market structure changes align with government objectives for competition,
consumer choice, and essential service resilience.
4.  Any analysis of whether government has considered ‘what happens next’ scenarios if current
market trajectory results in:
•  elimination of terrestrial alternatives from rural markets;
•  effective monopoly by foreign-control ed satel ite provider/s;
•  subsequent price increases once competitive constraint is removed; and
•  consumer harm that cannot be remedied by market re-entry due to infrastructure barriers.
5.  Any advice on whether policy settings should include mechanisms to maintain infrastructure
diversity, prevent irreversible market concentration, or protect against elimination of competition in
essential services markets.
6.  Any assessment of whether decisions about rural connectivity funding have adequately considered
long-term market structure implications versus short-term problem-solving convenience.

On 22 January 2026, you clariﬁed that the time period for this request is 1 January 2022 to 6 January
2026. On 27 January 2026, you were advised that the date for replying to your request had been reset to
20 February 2026. This was done under section 15(1AA) of the Act.

On 19 February 2026, you were advised that the due date for responding had been extended by
10 working days to no later than 6 March 2026.

MBIE has decided to grant your request. However, it wil  take us some time to process and prepare the
information for release. We wil  send you the information as soon as it is ready and without undue delay.
We expect to be able to provide you with this information by 13 March 2026.

We have also decided that some of the information requested may be withheld under the fol owing
sections of the Act:
•  9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons;
•  9(2)(b)(i ), to protect information where the making available of the information would be likely
unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the
subject of the information;
•  9(2)(ba)(i), to protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or which any
person has been or could be compelled to provide under the authority of any enactment, where
the making available of the information would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar
information, or information from the same source, and it is in the public interest that such
information should continue to be supplied;
•  9(2)(f)(iv), to maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which protect the
confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials;
•  9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression
of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or members of an organisation or officers
and employees of any public service agency or organisation in the course of their duty;
•  9(2)(h), to maintain legal professional privilege; and
•  9(2)(j), to enable a Minister of the Crown or any public service agency or organisation holding the
information to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial
and industrial negotiations).

I do not consider that the withholding of this information is outweighed by public interest considerations
in making the information available.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, or if you require any further assistance,
please contact [email address].

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information
about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802
602.

Nāku noa, nā

Deborah Crawford
Manager, Communications Policy
Building, Resources and Markets