One of the roadblocks for new entrants had been the absence of a specific telecommunications regulatory body. Telecom had established the Permission to Connect (PTC) document, the lifeblood of the business. This meant that the dominant carrier was setting the rules. And since Telecom had not contemplated local service or 0800 service competition, the Agreement with Telecom would prove the most difficult to achieve. Staff en route from North America to join the new ATC told the minister, Richard Prebble, that they would cancel their network switch order due to the delays in getting an agreement with Telecom. ATC then agreed to defer cancelling while the Minister got Telecom to the table.