No, not an official statement (yet) but here is why I think it's true.
As of 14.7 everyone already HAS NW loaded and patched in. You can now see towers, fight them, get benefits from guild towers, etc. You can now see the new cars and interact with them.
What you cannot do if you dont have NW is BUY any of them. At the time of purchase the check is made to see if you have NW registered, if so then you buy, if not then you fly.
The reason they wont download NW is because there is NOTHING to download. You already have it. The moment folks realize that your paying for a KEY and thats it, they are going to have complaints about having to buy a basicly blank CD.
Yeah, I paid $19.95 for the game, now I pay 19.95 for something I already have patched in.
Point is they need to get over it, as I REFUSE to purchase and pay those horrid shipping prices, but I would purchase a key online.