Notification of three telecommunications access disputes
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has received notification under Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974 of the following three access disputes involving:
Telstra Corporation Limited and Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Ltd relating to the price paid by Telstra to Hutchison for the Mobile Terminating Access Service*
Agile Pty Ltd and Telstra Corporation Limited relating to the monthly and connection prices paid by Agile to Telstra for the Unconditioned Local Loop Service**
Soul Pattinson Telecommunications Pty Ltd and Telstra Corporation Limited relating to the monthly price paid by Soul to Telstra for the Unconditioned Local Loop Service**.
The ACCC has commenced the arbitration process for these access disputes. Given that the legislation contemplates that arbitrations be conducted in private, the ACCC will not be making any public comment at this stage.
The ACCC is vested with arbitration powers enabling it to make directions and 'do all things necessary for the speedy hearing and determination of an access dispute'. For the ACCC to engage in arbitration, an access seeker and/or an access provider must notify the ACCC of an access dispute. The ACCC may arbitrate an access dispute only where:
a declared service is supplied or proposed to be supplied by a carrier or carriage service provider;
one or more standard access obligations apply or will apply to the carrier or carriage provider in relation to the declared service, and
an access seeker is unable to agree with the carrier or carriage service provider regarding the terms and conditions on which the carrier or carriage service provider is to comply with the standard access obligations.
Where a dispute cannot be resolved after private negotiations, mediation and/or conciliation, either of the access parties may refer the matter to the ACCC. Arbitration by the ACCC would be considered as a final solution for the parties in dispute. Where the ACCC is notified of an access dispute the ACCC must determine the matter, unless it decides to terminate the arbitration or the notification is otherwise withdrawn.
* The Domestic Mobile Terminating Access Service is a wholesale input, used by providers of fixed-to-mobile and mobile-to-mobile calls, to allow their customers to call mobile phone users. It allows consumers (either fixed-line or mobile) to call mobile users connected to another network. The carrier whose customer initiates the call pays the carrier whose customer receives the call for the mobile terminating access service.
** The Unconditioned Local Loop Service (ULLS) involves the use of unconditioned cable, primarily copper pairs, between end users and a telephone exchange. The ULLS essentially gives an access seeker the use of the copper pair without any dial tone or carriage service. This allows the access seeker to use the ULLS in conjunction with its own equipment in an exchange to provide a range of services, including traditional voice services and high speed internet access, to end-users connected to that exchange.
