The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today issued a draft initial list of telecommunications services to which regulated access will be established from 1 July 1997 for carriers and services providers.
Under Section 39 of the Telecommunications (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 1997, the ACCC must prepare a statement, in consultation with AUSTEL, specifying certain services to be deemed as declared services with effect on 1 July 1997.
As a result, service providers will be able to be provided with these deemed services, on request, from any carriers or carriage service providers supplying the services. "This deeming process is intended to achieve a smooth introduction of the new telecommunications access regime by essentially retaining existing access rights for carriers, extending those rights to service providers and providing access to the carriage of broadcasting services over cable networks," ACCC Chairman Professor Allan Fels, said today.
"The draft statement outlines an approach to considering which services should be deemed as a declared service and proposes a preliminary list of services which the ACCC will consider for inclusion in the deeming statement."
The list of services reflects the services that Optus and Vodafone currently obtain from Telstra under the existing regime.
The ACCC seeks written comments on the draft statement from industry and other interested parties. The ACCC will revise the draft list of services on the basis of these comments before finalising the statement. The ACCC asks that written submissions be received by 18 June 1997.
"While this list establishes an important starting point for declared services, it is the ACCC intention to hold a public inquiry into the declaration of services for which early access is considered important by access seekers," Professor Fels said. "The ACCC is particularly interested in those services which may not be covered by the deemed list or are not recommended by the specialist industry body, the Telecommunications Access Forum, for declaration and invites interested parties to put their views on what services should be declared to the ACCC".
Copies of the draft statement are available from ACCC offices and the statement will be available from the ACCCs internet website http://www.accc.gov.au
Further information Professor Allan Fels, Chairman, pager (016) 373 536 Ms Lin Enright, Director, Public Relations, (06) 264 2808
Under Section 39 of the Telecommunications (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 1997, the ACCC must prepare a statement, in consultation with AUSTEL, specifying certain services to be deemed as declared services with effect on 1 July 1997.
As a result, service providers will be able to be provided with these deemed services, on request, from any carriers or carriage service providers supplying the services. "This deeming process is intended to achieve a smooth introduction of the new telecommunications access regime by essentially retaining existing access rights for carriers, extending those rights to service providers and providing access to the carriage of broadcasting services over cable networks," ACCC Chairman Professor Allan Fels, said today.
"The draft statement outlines an approach to considering which services should be deemed as a declared service and proposes a preliminary list of services which the ACCC will consider for inclusion in the deeming statement."
The list of services reflects the services that Optus and Vodafone currently obtain from Telstra under the existing regime.
The ACCC seeks written comments on the draft statement from industry and other interested parties. The ACCC will revise the draft list of services on the basis of these comments before finalising the statement. The ACCC asks that written submissions be received by 18 June 1997.
"While this list establishes an important starting point for declared services, it is the ACCC intention to hold a public inquiry into the declaration of services for which early access is considered important by access seekers," Professor Fels said. "The ACCC is particularly interested in those services which may not be covered by the deemed list or are not recommended by the specialist industry body, the Telecommunications Access Forum, for declaration and invites interested parties to put their views on what services should be declared to the ACCC".
Copies of the draft statement are available from ACCC offices and the statement will be available from the ACCCs internet website http://www.accc.gov.au
Further information Professor Allan Fels, Chairman, pager (016) 373 536 Ms Lin Enright, Director, Public Relations, (06) 264 2808