The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today confirmed its view that the provision of Digital Data Access Service (DDAS) does not include a mandatory requirement that Time Division Cross Connect (TDCC) equipment be used by access seekers when using the DDAS.
DDAS is an access service for the high speed domestic carriage of data between an exchange or network facility and a customer's premises. The primary functions of a TDCC include switching, bandwidth aggregation, interconnections between access and transmission services, management of link redundancy, and network management activities (such as access testing and monitoring capabilities).
The ACCC decided to issue this statement after receiving complaints from a number of carriers that they were unable to acquire DDAS without a TDCC.
The effect of this view would be that Telstra is required to provide a digital data access service without requiring the use of a TDCC. The ACCC recognises that there may be some trade-off between the use or absence of a TDCC and the quality and reliability of the DDAS service that Telstra can guarantee.
The mandatory inclusion of a TDCC could in fact amount to prescribing minimum standards of quality and reliability. The ACCC feels that quality and reliability standards are matters best left to commercial negotiation between the parties.
DDAS is a declared service under Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974. Once a service is declared, carriers and carriage service providers who provide the service either to themselves or to other persons are, unless exempt, required to comply with standard access obligations in relation to the service. In accordance with these obligations these carriers and carriage service providers must supply the service on such terms and conditions as are agreed with access seekers or, failing agreement, in accordance with an access undertaking given to the ACCC or an arbitration determination by the ACCC.
The ACCC considered the issue of whether the TDCC should be included in the service description of the DDAS and published its views in its report Competition in Data Markets in November 1998.
DDAS is an access service for the high speed domestic carriage of data between an exchange or network facility and a customer's premises. The primary functions of a TDCC include switching, bandwidth aggregation, interconnections between access and transmission services, management of link redundancy, and network management activities (such as access testing and monitoring capabilities).
The ACCC decided to issue this statement after receiving complaints from a number of carriers that they were unable to acquire DDAS without a TDCC.
The effect of this view would be that Telstra is required to provide a digital data access service without requiring the use of a TDCC. The ACCC recognises that there may be some trade-off between the use or absence of a TDCC and the quality and reliability of the DDAS service that Telstra can guarantee.
The mandatory inclusion of a TDCC could in fact amount to prescribing minimum standards of quality and reliability. The ACCC feels that quality and reliability standards are matters best left to commercial negotiation between the parties.
DDAS is a declared service under Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974. Once a service is declared, carriers and carriage service providers who provide the service either to themselves or to other persons are, unless exempt, required to comply with standard access obligations in relation to the service. In accordance with these obligations these carriers and carriage service providers must supply the service on such terms and conditions as are agreed with access seekers or, failing agreement, in accordance with an access undertaking given to the ACCC or an arbitration determination by the ACCC.
The ACCC considered the issue of whether the TDCC should be included in the service description of the DDAS and published its views in its report Competition in Data Markets in November 1998.