Telecom move not in interests of justice

By Jock Anderson

Refusing Telecom leave to file a counterclaim Justice Rodney Hansen ruled Telecom could not use documents discovered from Telstra as the basis of a counterclaim because it would not be in the interests of justice.

The documents relate to Telstra's management of telecommunications services to Fletcher Challenge.

Telecom alleged the discovered documents showed Telstra misused confidential information, was guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct, altered dates on customer letters of authority and had harmed Telecom's economic interests by unlawful means.

In High Court proceedings started in May, 1999, Telstra claimed Telecom used its allegedly dominant market position to prevent Telstra from competing or to eliminate it from the telecommunication management services market.

The case centres on the termination by Telecom of arrangements.

For the purpose of providing telecommunication management services Telstra New Zealand - a subsidiary of Australian Telstra Corporation - obtains from customers a letter of authority (LOA), which notifies other carriers, including Telecom, that Telstra is acting on behalf of the customer.

One of the practical outcomes of the LOA is that Telecom forwards the bills of customers who sign LOAs to Telstra: hence carrier rebilling.

Last year Telecom announced it would no longer acknowledge Telstra's authority under LOAs executed by customers after March 10, 1999.

The case, originally set down for five weeks in March, was adjourned for a hearing over three months beginning on September 25.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name:
Your email:	Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Printable version

Related News

Solid Energy delays first half report, says future coal price weights on debt repayment
Bathurst sinks into the red in first half, still waiting for coal price to turn around
NZ business confidence gains in February as agri sector gets more upbeat
Countdown boosts first-half earnings 2.9% amid cost cutting, higher volumes
Marsden Maritime posts 5.7% gain in 1H profit, expects FY earnings in line with last year
Precinct raises $73.6 million from instos in capital raising
NZ building consents fall for a second month in January, housing permits drop
Allied Farmers posts 1H profit, says uncertain dairy sales may weigh on 2H
Transpower hikes 1H dividend, warns of regulatory threat to future earnings
Winemaker Delegat posts 45% drop in 1H profit despite rising sales