The Commerce Commission has released its draft determination of the amounts telcos will pay towards the $50 million Telecommunications Development Levy for 2011/12.

The government uses the annual levy to pay for telecommunications infrastructure including the relay service for the deaf and hearing-impaired, broadband for rural areas, and improvements to the 111 emergency service.

Telecommunications Commissioner Dr Stephen Gale said the levy‚”about one percent of revenue”, is paid by companies, or groups of companies, earning more than $10 million per year from operating a component of a public telecommunications network (fixed or wireless).

Dr Gale said the levy allocation process was still relatively new and the draft determination explained the process used to identify ‚”qualifying liable persons”, and the methodology used in the Commission’s calculations.

For the 2011/12 year, the Commission has identified 26 companies as likely to contribute.

Submissions on the draft determination are due by 5 June 2013.

A copy of the draft determination is available on the Commission’s website: http://www.comcom.govt.nz/tdl-2011-12/.