WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--New Zealand Communications Minister Steven Joyce Wednesday said he had approved changes to undertakings made by Telecom Corp of New Zealand Ltd. (TEL.NZ) when it was forced by the government last year to separate its operations.

Joyce said the variation was sought by Telecom in March to allow more efficient delivery of services to wholesale customers and to reduce network building and integration costs. Three Telecom competitors supported the change.
“While implementation of the varied separation undertakings will delay full equivalence related milestones for delivery of unbundled lines and backhaul by six to 12 months, the variation is expected to significantly improve the delivery of important wholesale services to other telecommunications service providers ahead of the previous timetable,” he said.
A Telecom spokesman said the variation was technical in nature but related to “equivalence” - the requirement for it to wholesale services to rivals using the same processes it does to its own retail arm.