The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has expressed concerns around the competition implications of Telstra’s involvement in the rollout of the NBN network. While recognising that using Telstra’s technical expertise will contribute to a quicker rollout of the NBN, the ACCC remains concerned that competition issues arise from agreements that involve Telstra in the construction and maintenance of the NBN, including the HFC Delivery Agreement announced earlier today.
“We have raised several concerns with Telstra and NBN Co, including that Telstra may receive a competitive advantage if it has access to better information than other service providers or if it is able to use infrastructure built for the NBN network before that infrastructure becomes available to other retail service providers,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
The ACCC has had extensive and productive discussions with NBN and Telstra to seek to address the concerns that could arise because of Telstra’s role in providing design, engineering, procurement and construction management services to NBN under the HFC Agreement.
NBN and Telstra recently provided a set of proposals aimed at addressing these concerns.
“We are looking at the parties’ proposals carefully to consider to what extent these proposals address our concerns. It is important that Telstra doesn’t get a head-start selling retail services over the NBN just because its technical expertise is being used in the construction and maintenance of the NBN,” Mr Sims said.
Use this form to make a general enquiry.