- 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 regulates 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
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telstra exemption application: Optus cable network areas 2007 | Communications | Review |
Finalised
2007 |
On 11 November 2008, the ACCC issued a final decision rejecting Telstra's exemption application relating to the Optus HFC network |
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| Local carriage service & wholesale line rental pricing principles & indicative prices 2008-09 | Communications | Price determination |
Finalised
2009 |
The ACCC has taken the submissions into account in developing the final pricing principles and indicative prices. The final report was released on 6 August 2008. |
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| Telstra LCS & WLR exemption inquiry 2007 | Communications | Access exemption |
Finalised
2008 |
On 22 August 2008, the ACCC decided to grant Telstra exemptions from the standard access obligations in respect of the supply of the local carriage service and wholesale line rental subject to a number of proposed limitations and conditions. |
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| Unconditioned Local Loop Service pricing principles & indicative prices 2008-09 | Communications | Review |
Finalised
2009 |
In November 2007, as part of the ACCC's strategic review of the regulation of fixed services, the ACCC issued an Unconditioned Local Loop Service (ULLS) pricing principles determination. The final report was released on 4 June 2008. |
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| G9 FANOC - Fibre to the node SAU | Communications | Access undertaking |
Withdrawn
2007 |
On 10 March 2008, FANOC formally advised that it was withdrawing the Special Access Undertaking. |
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| Unconditioned Local Loop Service pricing principles 2007 | Communications | Price determination |
Finalised
2007 |
The LSS pricing principles and indicative prices were published as part of the ACCC's LSS declaration review. That review was finalised in October 2007. The ULLS pricing principles were issued separately in November 2007. |
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| LSS declaration inquiry 2007 | Communications | Service declaration |
Finalised
|
The ACCC's strategic review commenced in December 2005 as an inquiry to examine the future regulation of certain fixed network services. In April 2007, the ACCC began a second stage of the review with the release of a position paper outlining a framework for the review of existing fixed services regulation and the principles that will guide future regulatory decisions. |
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| Telstra - PSTN originating & terminating access & local carriage service undertaking | Communications | Access undertaking |
Finalised
2006 |
The undertaking sets out how Telstra proposed to meet its standard access obligations to supply PSTN OTA and the LCS from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2008. |
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| Fixed network & local services pricing principles & indicative prices 2006-2007 | Communications | Price determination |
Finalised
2006 |
The ACCC released its final indicative prices in November 2006. The indicative prices relate to the 2006 and 2007 calendar years. |
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| Telstra - Unconditioned local loop service monthly charge undertaking 2005 | Communications | Access undertaking |
Finalised
2005 |
In December 2005 Telstra submitted two unconditioned local loop service (ULLS) undertakings. The undertakings set out how Telstra proposed to meet its standard access obligations to supply the ULLS for the period from 1 January 2006 to 30 June 2007 and from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008 respectively. The undertakings related to the monthly charge Telstra proposed to charge for the ULLS. The ACCC released Telstra's undertakings on 16 January 2006. The ACCC released its final decision to reject the undertakings in August 2006. |
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| Local services review 2005 | Communications | Access declaration |
Finalised
2005 |
The ACCC released its final indicative prices in November 2006. |
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| Telstra - Unconditioned local loop service & line sharing service undertaking 2004 | Communications | Access undertaking |
Finalised
December 2004 |
In December 2004 Telstra lodged unconditioned local loop service (ULLS) and line sharing service (LSS) undertakings. The undertakings set out how Telstra proposes to meet its standard access obligations to supply these services. The ACCC released its final decision on Telstra's LSS connection and disconnection charge undertaking in April 2006. |
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| Telstra - Line sharing service undertaking 2003 | Communications | Access undertaking |
Finalised
2004 |
In September 2003 Telstra lodged an access undertaking with the ACCC specifying the terms and conditions upon which it undertakes to meet its standard access obligations to supply the line sharing service (LSS). The terms and conditions primarily relate to the pricing of the LSS and not to other matters of supply. The undertakings include service descriptions and a price list specifying Telstra’s proposed charges for the service outlined in the service description. The ACCC released a discussion paper on Telstra's access undertaking for the LSS in December 2003. |
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| Dispute resolution guidelines review | Communications | Review |
Ongoing
2004 |
The ACCC released the current guide to the resolution of telecommunications access disputes in March 2004. |
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