The ACCC is vested with powers to arbitrate telecommunications access disputes and make a final binding determination to resolve a dispute. Arbitration hearings are private and the ACCC generally does not make any public comment on disputes except to announce when a dispute has been notified. Details of determinations made can be accessed on the public register.
Division 5 of Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act enables access providers to voluntarily lodge written access undertakings with the ACCC specifying the terms and conditions upon which they agree to supply a specified service. The ACCC can accept or reject the undertaking.
Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act enables the ACCC to ‘declare’ telecommunications services. Upon declaration, standard access obligations apply. The access provider is obliged to supply the service to an access seeker upon request.
The ACCC has the ability to vary or revoke declarations but, with the exception of minor changes, it must hold a public inquiry ahead of such changes.
In April 2007 the ACCC made interim determinations in two telecommunications access disputes regarding the supply of the local carriage service and wholesale line rental from Telstra Corporation Ltd to Primus Telecommunications Pty Ltd.
The ACCC published the interim determinations and accompanying statements of reasons on 28 May 2007 to encourage reasonable local carriage service and wholesale line rental prices to apply across the market.
In making the interim determinations, the ACCC maintained consistency with pricing principles and indicative prices for local carriage service and wholesale line rental, to provide that the charges payable by Primus to Telstra for the period up to 31 December 2007, except where the parties agree otherwise, are:
local carriage service: 17.92c per call
wholesale line rental: indicative prices of $23.12 for Home Line Part and $25.84 for Business Line Part.
The ACCC is now progressing towards a final determination in this matter.
Australian Competition Tribunal rejects Telstra’s proposed ULLS undertaking
On 17 May 2007 the Australian Competition Tribunal decided to reject Telstra’s proposed price for the unconditioned local loop service (ULLS).
Telstra proposed to implement a uniform monthly access charge of $30 per service, based on the average of its estimated efficient costs of supplying the ULLS across four geographic areas or bands. Telstra’s averaged charge is above ULLS costs in ‘urban areas’ (CBD and metropolitan areas) and below ULLS costs in ‘rural areas’ (regional and rural areas).
The decision by the Tribunal affirmed the ACCC’s decision of 25 August 2006 to reject Telstra’s price undertakings. The Tribunal was not satisfied that the following key components were reasonable:
Telstra’s estimates of the ULLS network costs, based on Telstra’s PIE II model
Telstra’s proposed averaging of its estimated network costs across geographic bands
Telstra’s approach to the allocation of ULLS-specific costs
Telstra’s preferred method for estimating the weighted average cost of capital and parameters
Telstra’s proposed conditions relating to network modernisation.
View further information about this decision here.
G9/FANOC FTTN special access undertaking for the broadband access network service
On 30 May 2007 FANOC Pty Ltd lodged a special access undertaking. FANOC is a company formed by the G9 consortium of telecommunications companies. The undertaking relates to the terms and conditions of access to FANOC’s prospective fibre-to-the-node broadband access service.
The ACCC will issue a discussion paper on FANOC’s special access undertaking shortly. Once the discussion paper is published on its website, the ACCC will begin a public consultation process in accordance with its standard practices for assessing undertakings.
View the special access undertaking and related documents here.
Possible variation of the ULLS service declaration
The ACCC has commenced a public inquiry under s. 152AL of the Trade Practices Act to determine whether it should vary its service declaration for the ULLS.
The inquiry focus is whether to vary the service description to allow access to other potential points of interconnection on the communications wire in addition to continued regulated access to the ULLS, as currently defined.
In line with encouraging a more technically neutral service description, the ACCC will also consider whether the ULLS declaration should be amended to include copper and other metal-based wires used in local loops.
The ACCC has issued a discussion paper identifying key issues relevant to the decision on whether to vary the service description. The ACCC is seeking submissions from interested parties by 15 June 2007.
View the discussion paper and reference documents here.
On 25 May 2007 the ACCC released an issues paper on GasNet Australia Pty Ltd's proposed revisions to its access arrangement for the principal transmission system (PTS) in Victoria.
On 30 April 2007 GasNet Australia Pty Ltd applied to the ACCC for approval under the National Third Party Access Code for Natural Gas Pipeline Systems. The access arrangement sets the terms and conditions under which GasNet offers third party access to the PTS. The AER is assisting the ACCC in this assessment.
Documents associated with the access arrangement, including GasNet’s proposed access arrangement and the ACCC’s issues paper, can be found here. The ACCC invites submission from interested parties in response to any issues relevant to these proposed revisions by 29 June 2007.
Dawson Valley Pipeline access arrangement
On 5 February 2007 the ACCC received a proposed access arrangement and access arrangement information from Anglo Coal (Dawson) Limited, Anglo Coal (Dawson Management) Pty Ltd and Mitsui Moura Investment Pty Ltd, the service providers of the Dawson Valley Pipeline (DVP).
On 23 May 2007 the ACCC released its draft decision proposing not to approve the service providers' proposed access arrangement for the DVP.
Documents associated with the access arrangement, including the ACCC’s draft decision, submissions, the proposal and access arrangement information, can be obtained on the AER website. The ACCC invites written submissions from interested parties in response to its draft decision. Submissions close on 8 June 2007. The ACCC will consider any relevant issues before issuing its final decision.
On 14 May 2007 the AER released its draft guideline for contingent project applications made by electricity transmission network service providers (TNSPs) for public consultation.
The requirement for TNSPs to lodge applications and the AER’s obligations in assessing these applications are set out in the National Electricity Rules. The NER does not require the AER to publish a guideline on contingent project applications. The AER has done so to assist TNSPs to lodge applications that comply with the NER requirements.
The draft guideline can be found on the AER website. The AER invites submissions from interested parties in response to its draft contingent projects guideline. Submissions close on 9 July 2007. The AER will consider issues raised by interested parties before issuing its final guideline.
