ACCC issues discussion paper on FANOC (G9) special access undertaking for broadband access services
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today issued a public discussion paper on FANOC's (G9) special access undertaking for broadband access services.
Under the Trade Practices Act 1974, the ACCC is required to assess whether the terms and conditions of supply of access to third parties, proposed in an undertaking, are reasonable (as defined by the Act), and consistent with the standard access obligations of the Act. The ACCC is then required by the Act to either accept or reject the undertaking.
In assessing a special access undertaking, the ACCC is not considering whether to approve a proposed investment or not. Firms must make their own investment decisions, based on many factors.
FANOC Pty Ltd is a company formed by the G9 consortium of telecommunications carriers. FANOC proposes to build a fibre-to-the-node network. On 30 May 2007, FANOC formally lodged a special access undertaking with the ACCC under the Trade Practices Act 1974, relating to broadband access services over that proposed network.
FANOC proposes to supply broadband access services at standard rates to all carriers, including the members of the G9 consortium, Telstra and other users of the network. The undertaking specifies price and non-price terms and conditions upon which FANOC proposes to supply those broadband access services. It includes a proposed service description, proposed management principles for the governance of FANOC to maintain its independence from any carrier, and a method to determine FANOC's prices to access seekers.
Interested parties are invited to make submissions to the ACCC in response to the discussion paper by no later than 5 p.m. 7 August 2007.
Copies of the undertaking, FANOC's submission in support of the undertaking, and the discussion paper will be available on the ACCC website, see link below.
Under s.152CBA of the Act, a special access undertaking can be lodged by a person who is or expects to be a carrier or carriage service provider, so long as the service is not an active declared service.
A service supplied by a person who has given the ACCC a special access undertaking and which the ACCC has accepted is a 'declared service' under s.152AL(7). However, accepting a special access undertaking does not preclude declaration of the service(s) to which it applies.
Section152CBD specifies that the ACCC must not accept the special access undertaking unless:
the ACCC is satisfied that the terms and conditions set out in the undertaking are consistent with standard access obligations under s.152AR
the ACCC is satisfied that the terms and conditions set out in the undertaking are reasonable
the ACCC is satisfied that the undertaking is consistent with any Ministerial pricing determination, and
the ACCC has published the undertaking and invited people to make submissions on it and considered any submissions that were received within the time limit specified by the ACCC when it published the undertaking.
