On 6 October we kicked off a transition process to move from our existing contractual terms for fibre services to a new 2022 CSA.

The impetus for the timing of this transition process is the implementation of a new regulatory model from 1 January 2022. We need to update the existing contract to ensure it is fit for purpose under that new regulatory model. These regulatory updates are essential to this transition process.

Understand phase insights – themes and priorities

We are currently in the first phase of the 2022 CSA transition, being the understand phase. This phase is about understanding what works well and what does not work well in our current state – from both a Chorus and RSP perspective. We want to prioritise these pain points in order to identify what is essential to address alongside the regulatory changes required for 2022. There will be some lower priority pain points which we agree need to be addressed but perhaps not on the same timeframe.

We hosted two understand workshops with RSPs on 29 and 30 October. These workshops explored a range of current pain points, and how they show up for RSPs. We then defined which of those pain points are the most important from an RSP perspective through a prioritisation activity. We also took RSP feedback via email and via bilateral discussions with RSPs (where requested). In addition, we’ve run internal workshops to capture the Chorus view on pain points and prioritisation.

We’ve put together a pack which sets out the raw outputs gathered as part of these understand workshops. It also consolidates those outputs to identify key themes and a priority categorisation of those themes. You can check the pack out here.

Other feedback from RSPs

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Spark provided some feedback at the understand workshops about the role of other LFCs as part of this transition process. We’ve made some changes to the ToR to address the issues raised – you can check out this marked up version of the ToR as an easy reference to what we’ve changed. We are confident the framework we’ve put in place for the 2022 CSA transition doesn’t raise any Commerce Act concerns.

In particular:

• Pricing and other competitively sensitive information is not up for discussion during the consultation process;
• We have not reached any agreement or understanding with other LFCs in relation to our respective contractual frameworks for fibre services;
• Other LFCs are attending in a passive observer role reflecting RSPs’ interest in national consistency and will run their own independent processes with RSPs; and
• Chorus and other LFCs have different operating models and commercial priorities and we will continue to make independent decisions in our own commercial interest.

Dedicated webpage

We received limited feedback on the prototype of the dedicated webpage from only a few RSPs. The key feedback was that there might be a need for password protection of the content published to the webpage at some stage during the transition process. The indication was this would be most likely once we are in the iterative drafting phase of the transition, with variation control and ease of access for RSPs also top of mind.

We’ll need to give some more thought about how password protection might best be used in this context and we’ll let you know as soon as we’ve resolved the proposed approach to this issue. In the interim, we’ll make sure the webpage offers this password functionality should we agree this needs to be used as part of a later transition phase. Having said that, development remains on track to launch the webpage as planned.

Structure of 2022 CSA

RSPs aren’t aligned in their views on the most appropriate structure for the 2022 CSA, with a mix of support for a blank page approach compared with a mark-up to the existing terms. There is near universal support for a blank page approach to individual priority items which are considered essential to the transition process; change and end-customer relationships. We’ll proceed on that basis in terms of how we run the co-design workshops.

Although our initial view was that a blank page approach generally was preferable, we accept that it may be more pragmatic to mark-up the existing terms. We’ll be in a better position to assess this once we have completed the design phase. As a result, we’re going to defer a final decision on this matter until early in 2021. We’ll wait to have feedback from RSPs on the various design collateral we develop (i.e. co-design output, strawman etc) and use this – along with RSP views on overall structure - to inform our approach.

Next steps

We’re now moving into the design phase of the transition process. We’ve set out below what is coming next and provides an indication of the anticipated RSP time commitment involved in participating in the various activities detailed:

Co-design workshops – starting week of 16 November

Activity	RSP Resource
Chorus facilitated co-design workshops with Chorus and RSP attendees: Wednesday 18 Nov PM – Change Wednesday 25 Nov PM – End customer relationships	Pre-work: reading of the outputs shared by Chorus, ensuring familiarity with the key challenges raised by all parties during understand. Time requirement: workshop duration 3-4hrs, and background reading to prepare. Intent of each workshop is to generate a range of solution ideas on how we might tackle these issues.

Like we did for the understand workshops, we’ll run these co-design sessions virtually via Zoom and using Miro functionality. The workshops will be attended by both RSP and Chorus representatives as well as other LFCs and TCF as observers.

Let us know who you’d like to attend these workshops:

• Change co-design workshop: by COB Friday 13 November; and
• End-customer relationships co-design workshop: by COB Friday 20 November, in each case by email to 2022csa@chorus.co.nz

We plan to share the outputs from these workshops by mid-December. We’ll be asking for feedback on RSP solution idea preferences (more details on this to be shared at the time of the workshops).

 

First draft strawman on P1/2 issues – by mid-December

Activity	RSP Resource
Chorus to provide high-level strawman on: Regulatory changes required in time for 2022 Price change mechanics Liability, security and insurance provisions Intact SLA review	Pre-work: None. Time requirement: Reading strawman and preparing feedback.

We will work with you to agree suitable timeframes for feedback on the various draft strawman. We propose the feedback discussions begin early 2021 (indicatively Feb/Mar) to allow time for reflection on the changes first, however are open to feedback on this timeframe

 

Wholesale/retail boundaries discussion – by end of 2020

Activity	RSP Resource
Chorus to facilitate a discussion between regulatory SMEs regarding wholesale/retail boundaries (i.e. in relation to Chorus’ engagement with end-consumers) (by end of 2020)	Pre-work: Reading outputs shared by Chorus that relate to this issue Time requirement: meeting duration 1hr, and background reading to prepare Intent of this discussions is to agree how to categorise/address this pain point.

For all other queries please contact 2022csa@chorus.co.nz at first instance.