The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today announced it will hold a public inquiry into whether the regulation of the wholesale mobile telecommunications services should be made neutral with respect to technologies that are presently deployed or in use in Australia.
As part of the public inquiry process, a Discussion Paper on the Proposed Variation to make the GSM Service Declarations technology-neutral is being issued.
"GSM and CDMA are the two main forms of technology currently utilised by carriers in Australia to provide mobile services to consumers, including SMS messaging services", ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today. "However, only wholesale GSM mobile services are regulated currently, as they were the only digital mobile technology in use when telecommunications regulation was introduced in 1997".
In its recent report on the pricing of wholesale GSM mobile services the ACCC determined that a light-handed form of regulatory intervention is appropriate at present. Of particular concern are the limited competitive forces on the wholesale GSM mobile service and the ability of integrated mobile carriers to restrict price competition in the downstream market for fixed-to-mobile calls.
"The report expressed concern that similar issues could equally apply to other mobile technologies presently deployed or in use", Professor Fels said. "The inquiry will examine mobile technology-neutral regulation, with respect to technologies currently deployed or in use, to determine whether this is the case. Additionally, the inquiry will consider if such regulation would be in the interests of consumers and telecommunications carriers".
The ACCC seeks submissions on its Discussion Paper from interested parties by 12 October 2001. Depending on the information received in submissions, the ACCC expects to issue a draft report of its preliminary findings before the end of November 2001.