- The ACCC regulates a range of non-NBN fixed line wholesale telecommunications services.
- For the services we regulate, we determine the price and other terms of access for retail service providers.
What the ACCC does
- We decide the price and other terms for retail service providers to access the non-NBN fixed line services we regulate.
- We review the services periodically and decide whether regulation is necessary.
What the ACCC can't do
- We don’t set the prices or service standards of retail services for end users.
- We don’t control whether consumers have a choice of retail service providers.
What we do in regulating fixed line services
We regulate many non-NBN fixed line wholesale services
The ACCC is responsible for regulating access to wholesale telecommunications services. As part of this role, we regulate:
- superfast broadband access services (SBAS) supplied by non-NBN networks
- a range of Telstra legacy fixed line wholesale access services, specifically the:
- unconditioned local loop service (ULLS)
- line sharing service (LSS)
- public switched telephone network originating access (PSTN OA) service
- public switched telephone network terminating access (PSTN TA) service
- wholesale line rental (WLR) service
- local carriage service (LCS)
- wholesale ADSL service.
We determine the price and non-price terms of access for retail service providers to access these services. We do this to ensure retail service providers have access to monopoly telecommunications networks and consumers can benefit from competition in the market.
We don’t control whether consumers have a choice of retail service providers.
We check that regulating the service remains necessary
The ACCC needs to periodically review the services we regulate.
We do this to check:
- whether regulation is still necessary
- that the price and non-price terms of access are suitable.
Our recent reviews of fixed line services are:
- Wholesale asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) service declaration inquiry 2021
- Superfast broadband access services (SBAS) final access determination inquiry 2021
- Local bitstream access service (LBAS) and superfast broadband access service (SBAS) declarations inquiry 2020
- Fixed line services declaration inquiry 2018
- Fixed line services final access determination inquiry 2018.
We run public inquiries on access decisions
We run a public inquiry when we are deciding whether:
- to declare a service for access regulation
- to extend, revoke, vary, allow to expire, or remake an existing service declaration before it expires.
See the Telecommunications access declarations we have made. Select ‘Communications’ in the Industry list and ‘Access declaration’ in Type.
After running a public inquiry, we make a final access decision for the service. See the Telecommunications access determinations we have made. Select ‘Communications’ in the Industry list and ‘Access determination’ in Type.
We set the rules for the supply of telecommunication services
We describe how we set rules for the supply of telecommunication services:
We no longer manage access disputes
Current legislation doesn’t include dispute provisions.
Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Act 2010 removed access dispute provisions from the Trade Practices Act 1974 from 1 January 2011.
While changing to the new legislation, the Act allowed a party to notify the ACCC of an access dispute regarding a declared service. This could be done until we made a final access determination. Arbitration determinations published by the ACCC as part of these provisions are in the public register.
The legal basis of our functions
We do this work under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and the Telecommunication Act 1997.
Our role in running public inquiries on access decisions is under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
Fixed line service projects
See a complete list of telecommunications and internet projects.
| Title | Industry | Type | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale ADSL service declaration inquiry 2021 | Communications | Access declaration |
Ongoing
30 July 2021 |
On 30 July 2021 the ACCC commenced a public inquiry, under Part 25 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, into the declared wholesale asymmetrical digital subscriber line (WADSL) service. The ACCC has released a Consultation and position paper to facilitate its inquiry. |
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| Superfast broadband access service declaration inquiry | Communications | Access declaration |
Finalised
29 July 2016 |
On 11 September 2014, the ACCC commenced a declaration inquiry into whether a superfast broadband access service, such as the very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) service, should be regulated under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. |
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| SBAS Final Access Determination inquiry 2021 | Communications | Access determination |
Ongoing
19 July 2021 |
On 19 July 2021, the ACCC commenced a public inquiry to make a final access determination (FAD) for the superfast broadband access service (SBAS) following its decision to declare the service. |
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| LBAS & SBAS declarations inquiry 2020 | Communications | Access declaration |
Finalised
19 July 2021 |
The ACCC has concluded its public inquiry into regulation of the superfast broadband access service (SBAS) and the local bitstream access service (LBAS). |
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| Fixed line services FAD inquiry 2018 | Communications | Access determination |
Finalised
31 March 2019 |
On 12 December 2018, the ACCC commenced a combined public inquiry into making final access determinations (FADs) for the six fixed line telecommunications services and the wholesale ADSL service. |
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| Fixed line services declaration inquiry 2018 | Communications | Access declaration |
Finalised
26 November 2018 |
On 31 August 2018, the ACCC released a public consultation paper and position paper for the fixed line telecommunications services declaration inquiry. |
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| SBAS Final Access Determination Inquiry 2016 | Communications | Access determination |
Finalised
26 May 2017 |
On 29 July 2016, the ACCC commenced a public inquiry to make a final access determination (FAD) for the superfast broadband access service (SBAS) under section 152BC of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the Act). This followed the release of the ACCC’s decision to declare the SBAS on 29 July 2016. |
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| LBAS Final Access Determination Inquiry 2015 | Communications | Access determination |
Finalised
26 May 2017 |
On 7 April 2015, the ACCC commenced an access determination inquiry in relation to the Local Bitstream Access Service (LBAS) as required under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the CCA). |
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| Wholesale ADSL service declaration inquiry 2016 | Communications | Access declaration |
Finalised
14 October 2016 |
On 4 July 2016 the ACCC commenced a public inquiry into whether the wholesale asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) service should continue to be declared. |
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| Fixed line services FAD inquiry 2013 | Communications | Access determination |
Finalised
9 October 2015 |
On 11 July 2013 the ACCC commenced a combined public inquiry into making final access determinations (FADs) for a number of the fixed line services and the wholesale ADSL service (FAD inquiry). The fixed line services are the: |
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| Fixed line services - FAD variation inquiry 2014 | Communications | Access variation |
Finalised
20 June 2014 |
On 17 April 2014, the ACCC commenced a public inquiry into varying the final access determinations (FADs) for the unconditioned local loop service (ULLS), line sharing service (LSS), wholesale line rental (WLR) service and local carriage service (LCS) to reflect the changes to the scope of fixed line services regulation. This inquiry considered whether the ACCC should vary the LCS and WLR service FADs to reflect the ACCC’s recent decision to remove the regulatory ‘carve outs’ for the central business districts of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. |
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| Fixed line services declaration inquiry 2013 | Communications | Access declaration |
Finalised
17 April 2014 |
On 11 July 2013, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) commenced a combined public inquiry into the declaration of the fixed line services. |
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| Wholesale ADSL final access determination (FAD) 2013 | Communications | Access determination |
Finalised
2013 |
On 29 May 2013, the ACCC made a Final Access Determination (FAD) for the declared Wholesale ADSL Service. |
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| Local Bitstream Access Service (LBAS) declaration | Communications | Access declaration |
Finalised
2012 |
On 22 February 2012, the ACCC made a decision to declare a layer 2 bitstream service, to be called the local bitstream access service (LBAS). |
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