Telstra has given the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission a written assurance that it will be launching the unconditioned local loop (ULL) service (which is required to be supplied by law) and the wholesale ADSL* product simultaneously in August 2000. Telstra has further committed to launching the retail ADSL product at around the same time.
The ACCC has encouraged Telstra to begin negotiations with its competitors on the provision of the ULL service well before August so that they can compete with Telstra in the supply of DSL*-based services.
Telstra has stated it is currently commercially negotiating bilateral contracts for the supply of its ULL product and expects the first of these negotiations to be completed by June 2000. In addition, at least two of Telstra's local competitors are currently engaged in technical trials of the ULL service with Telstra, which are running in parallel with Telstra's own ADSL wholesale and retail technical trials.
In July 1999 the ACCC decided to regulate the supply of the ULL service, which would enable competitors to use Telstra's copper lines to deploy DSL technologies in order to deliver both voice and high speed data services. Since then there has been some concern in parts of the industry that Telstra will deploy its own retail and wholesale ADSL services before making its copper lines available to competitors.
The ACCC sought written assurances from Telstra that it would not commercially launch its own ADSL offerings before providing an equivalent opportunity for others to also offer similar services through the use of Telstra's copper network.
While the ACCC is encouraged by these developments, it notes that there is still considerable work to be done before access seekers are in a position to acquire a range of DSL-enabled services. Industry work to develop technical and operational rules that will govern the provision of the ULL service should be completed by September. This is necessary to ensure DSL technologies can be used effectively in the local network without the threat of disruption to other services and to facilitate the efficient provision and operation of Telstra copper lines to competitors. The ACCC encourages the industry to continue its efforts to complete the relevant rules under which these services will be provided as quickly as possible.
*Editors Note: DSL refers to the generic name for a range of digital subscriber loop technologies which enable copper lines to carry high-speed (multi-megabit) data rates, which is more than a hundred times greater than that currently available for telephony and dial-up access to the Internet. ADSL refers to Asymmetrical digital subscriber line which is expected to be among the most common of the DSL technologies as it is particularly suited to domestic Internet applications.