Under Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974, both Optus Networks Pty Limited and Optus Mobile Pty Limited have notified the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission of separate access disputes with Telstra Corporation Limited.
The two access disputes relate to the charges associated with the supply of the Domestic PSTN Originating and Terminating Access Services from Telstra to Optus.
These services involve carriage of telephone calls between customer premises equipment and a point of interconnection at or associated with a local switch. Access seekers can use these services to carry calls made and received by end users connected to the access provider's network.
The ACCC has commenced the arbitration process for these access disputes. Given that the legislation contemplates that arbitrations be conducted in private, the ACCC will not be making any public comment at this stage.