Achieving the right balance between promoting broadband competition at the retail level without diminishing the commercial viability of facilities-based competition was a major challenge, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Commissioner, Mr Ed Willett, said today.
"In order to be sustainable over the longer term, competition in the broadband market will ultimately need to extend across a continuum of wholesale, access-based and facilities-based activities.
"The challenge for the regulator is to set a regulatory framework that provides incentives for competitors to seek access to existing services in short term while also providing incentives for competitors to build their own infrastructure and rely less on the incumbent over the longer term.
"The ACCC's first priority is to promote and protect opportunities and incentives for the development of competitive infrastructure".
This morning the ACCC issued its draft report proposing to reject Telstra's local loop services (LLS) undertaking, forming the view that the monthly $15 per service is unlikely to encourage providers to invest in their own facilities to provide broadband services.
The full transcript of Mr Willett's presentation to the Service Providers Industry Association (SPAN) in Melbourne will also be available from the ACCC website.