Telstra submits revised ULLS monthly charge undertaking

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today published Telstra's revised Unconditioned Local Loop Service monthly charge access undertaking. This was lodged on 3 March 2008, at the same time as it withdrew its previous ULLS undertaking dated 21 December 2007.

The ACCC had raised concerns with Telstra about malfunctions in its Telstra Efficient Access model, and lack of supporting documentation accompanying the TEA model. The ACCC requested that Telstra provide it with further information under the Trade Practices Act 1974.

Telstra has submitted a revised TEA model and other supporting documentation with its revised ULLS undertaking. Public versions of submitted documents will be placed on the ACCC website today.

Telstra has sought to impose several conditions on the ACCC regarding use of the TEA model. The ACCC has previously rejected these conditions and continues to do so.

The charges proposed in the revised ULLS undertakings are the same as in its withdrawn ULLS undertaking. Telstra proposes a monthly charge of $30 for each ULLS in Band 2 Exchange Service Areas (ESAs) applying for the period to 31 December 2010.

In the ULLS undertaking lodged in December 2005, Telstra proposed a price of $30 averaged across all ESAs. The ACCC rejected the undertaking as it could not be satisfied that the undertaking was reasonable. This decision was affirmed by the Australian Competition Tribunal on review.

The ACCC will now prepare a discussion paper seeking submissions on the undertakings.

Although the formal consultation period will begin when the discussion paper has been issued, the ACCC has issued Telstra's revised ULLS undertaking at this time to allow interested parties a longer period of time in which to assess the proposal. The ACCC is aware that Telstra has proposed confidentiality undertakings for access seekers to sign for access to the TEA model. The ACCC is concerned that there have been difficulties between Telstra and access seekers reaching agreement on the confidentiality undertaking. The ACCC will continue to monitor the progress of negotiations.

Background

The ULLS is a service for access to unconditioned cable, usually a copper wire pair, between a telephone exchange and an end user's home or office. 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 its own equipment in an exchange to provide a range of services, including traditional voice services and high speed internet access, to the end-user.