The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a series of challenges to Telstra.
Telstra should "throw the switch" on ADSL2+ in the exchanges which were capable of being enabled to ADSL2+ and offer high speed broadband to the vast majority of Australians, as it could, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today*.
"Don't wait for your competitors to move first, thus forcing you into action.
"And stop using the now overplayed excuse of 'regulatory constraints' as a subterfuge, in the hope that you might be able to persuade our politicians to remove regulations designed to foster and promote competition in the communications sector for the benefit of 20 million Australians".
Telstra should explain why it had taken so long to launch ADSL2+ when its competitors had been making the technology available for the past two years.
The ACCC understood ADSL was available in exchanges covering 91 per cent of the population and that all DSLAMs could be readily upgraded to provide ADSL2+.
"Why then has Telstra limited its upgrade to just 364 exchanges covering 46 per cent of the population, being only those exchanges where Telstra's competitors are already offering high speed broadband to its customers?"
Mr Samuel asked how Telstra could blame the regulator for limiting the extent of its ADSL2+ rollout, when wholesale broadband is not even a regulated service.
"I'm known for being a bit of a media junkie, and I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I read a quote in last week's Kalgoorlie Miner, where Telstra claimed that Kalgoorlie residents will not receive ADSL2+ because the ACCC might decide to give it away to competitors below cost.
"Forget about this idea of wholesale broadband being given away 'below cost' – it's not even a regulated service".
Mr Samuel also challenged Telstra to expose its fibre-to-the-node proposal to public examination – "to the extent that it was developed, prior to Telstra withdrawing from discussions...
"This is a matter of significant national importance and public interest. Telstra has publicly accused the regulator of attempting to impose 'below cost' and economically unrealistic regulatory constraints on its FTTN proposals. The most recent of these was Telstra's assertion in last week's Canberra Times that the ACCC's 'rejection' of Telstra's FTTN proposal was the reason why some Canberra residents are on waiting lists for broadband.
"The ACCC categorically rejects these assertions. Telstra should put its FTTN proposal on the table for public examination and release the ACCC from the confidentiality obligations that Telstra has imposed upon it, so that these issues can be placed in the public domain.
"This will enable Telstra's FTTN proposals - and the ACCC's response - to be subjected to a rigorous examination by our legislators, the investing public and the Australian community each of who have a deep vested interest in understanding the relevant issues.
"The ACCC firmly believes in the principle of transparency and the resultant discipline of accountability – it challenges Telstra to do likewise".
Mr Samuel said that there were still many aspects of the broadband market to yet to be established with any high degree of certainty.
These included what should Australia aim for in terms of broadband infrastructure; to what extent will broadband infrastructure in rural areas differ from that in cities; and what position did wireless technology have in the emerging broadband market?
"And this does not even venture to the demand side of the market", Mr Samuel said.
"We all have a role to play in addressing questions such as these and shaping Australia's broadband future. This is all the more challenging in the face of the constant speculation, opinion, and in some cases – plain misinformation that surrounds the regulation of the telco industry.
"And there has been no shortage of this in the past 12 months", he said.