An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announcement yesterday entitled "ACCC announces review of price control arrangements" said that "Some of the price controls on Telstra that will be of relevance to this review include the provision of untimed local calls; the requirement on Telstra to cap local calls at 22 cents per call (GST inclusive); and the local call parity requirement which requires Telstra to ensure residential, charity and business customers in non-metropolitan areas pay broadly the same price for untimed local calls as those in metropolitan areas."
As a matter of clarification, the legislative requirement for Telstra to provide untimed local calls, which is found in Part 8 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, is not the subject of this review. The Telstra Carrier Charges Price Control Arrangements, Notifications and Disallowance Determination No 1 of 2000, which is the subject of this review, caps untimed local calls at 22 cents per call (GST inclusive) and also includes the local call parity requirement which requires Telstra to ensure residential, charity and business customers in non-metropolitan areas pay broadly the same price for untimed local calls as those in metropolitan areas.