Solid Energy, the state-owned coal miner whose chief executive quit this month, is in talks with its banks because of its deteriorating financial position. The coal miner, which is carrying some $389 million of debt, is heading for a “significant” first half loss, chairman Mark Ford said in a statement. “We are in discussions with our banks and Treasury on …

Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson is to open a new manufacturing facility in Wellington, helping to offset a wave of job losses announced for the capital in recent weeks. The firm, which is a supplier to the government-backed ultra-fast broadband roll-out, will create 30 jobs at a new factory in the Wellington satellite city of Porirua to produce fibre-optic cable ducts, …

The government will auction allocations for the radio spectrum band being set aside for fourth-generation, or 4G, mobile phones in the third quarter of the year, but won’t have a sweetener for iwi. Communications Minister Amy Adams said the auction process for the 700 megahertz bandwidth coming free from the switch-over to digital television broadcasting has been approved by Cabinet, …