229Unbundled fibre services

1. The Governor-General may, by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations declaring a point-to-multipoint layer 1 service supplied to end-users’ premises or buildings to be an unbundled fibre service.

2. The regulations may, in relation to an unbundled fibre service, prescribe all or any of the following:

3. a description of the service:
4. any conditions:
5. the period during which the service must be provided:
6. the maximum price that may be charged for the service, which must be a cost-based price.

7. For the purposes of subsection (2)(a), the regulations may, without limitation other than subsection (4), describe a service with reference to any 1 or more of the following:

8. the geographic area in which the service must be supplied:
9. the service’s end-users:
10. the service providers who seek access to the service:
11. the technical specifications of the service:
12. any other circumstances in which the service must be supplied.

13. The Minister must not recommend that regulations be made under this section unless the Commission has, after a review under section 209, recommended that the regulations be made.

14. Subsection (4) applies unless the Minister is recommending regulations to which either or both of the following apply:

15. the regulations have no more than a minor effect:
16. the regulations correct errors or make similar technical amendments.

17. Despite subsection (1), the Minister must not recommend that a service be declared, before 1 January 2026, to be an unbundled fibre service if the service is provided over a fibre network developed as part of UFB 2 (as defined in section 156AB).

18. See clause 16 of Schedule 1AA for requirements relating to the first regulations made under this section.

19. Regulations under this section are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).