The ACCC is required to report annually to the Minister for Communications on changes in the prices paid for telecommunications services in Australia. This report is a legislative requirement under s 151CM(1)(a) in Division 12 of Part XIB of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the Act).
The Division 12 Record Keeping and Reporting Rules was first issued in December 2004 to enable the ACCC to collect information from service providers specified in the record keeping rule for this purpose. It has been revised on a number of occasions in response to changes in industry trends, most recently in 2020.
On 21 December 2022 the ACCC amended the Division 12 record keeping rules to reflect changes in Telstra-related reporting entities following a corporate restructure. More information about the changes, including the consultation process, is available from the Audit of telecommunications infrastructure assets record keeping rules consultation page.
There are no changes to the input template, the 2020 input template remains in effect.
Timeline
Partial reporting exemption to the Division 12 record keeping rule
Under the Division 12 record keeping rule applicable for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 reporting periods (August 2010 version), the reporting carriers are required to report separately on GSM and 3G mobile services under schedules C and D of the record keeping rule.
On 25 July 2012, the ACCC granted a partial reporting exemption to schedules C and D of the Division 12 record keeping rule for the 2011-12 reporting period. This exemption enabled these carriers to report mobile services on an aggregated basis. On 19 September 2013, the ACCC extended the partial reporting exemption to the 2012-13 reporting period and for carriers to continue reporting mobile services on an aggregated basis.