The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has made a final access determination for the declared local bitstream access service (LBAS). This final access determination will apply for three years and expire on 5 October 2015.
The LBAS is a wholesale access service for fixed line networks that are built or upgraded after January 2011. The LBAS is a ‘last mile’ fixed line service provided to residences and small business where the download transmission rate is superfast (25 megabits per second (Mbps) or faster). It does not apply to the NBN or to wireless or satellite networks.
The final access determination contains price and non-price terms and conditions for a 25/5 Mbps LBAS service. A price ceiling is set at $27 per service per month, benchmarked to the NBN Co wholesale broadband agreement (WBA) price for a similar service. The final access determination requires LBAS providers to supply a voice service if requested by an access seeker. The final access determination also contains non-price terms and conditions of access as a base position if parties cannot come to a commercial agreement.
“The ACCC considers that benchmarking to the NBN Co WBA is appropriate to ensure similar terms and conditions for retail providers of broadband services, whether they acquire NBN-based services or not,” ACCC Commissioner Ed Willett said.
“With this final access determination, the ACCC has sought to provide some certainty in terms and conditions for industry participants.”
The ACCC declared the LBAS in February this year and released an interim access determination and consultation paper in July. The ACCC received submissions from NBN Co, Telstra and iiNet, Internode and TransACT in August.