| Court throws out Telstra's appeal against ACCC ruling |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Monday, 22 September 2008 | |
  
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The ACCC arbitrated the disputes and specified terms for access to the LSS to apply until 31 December 2007. However Telstra initiated legal proceedings in the Federal Court challenging these decisions in August 2007 and the matters were heard in December 2007. According to the ACCC, "the judgment confirms the ACCC's approach to setting prices for the LSS, including a rental charge of $2.50 per month. While Justice Lindgren did find that the ACCC erred in one respect when making two of its decisions, he dismissed the other 10 grounds of appeal." "This decision affirms the ACCC's approach to the arbitration of disputes between telecommunications providers," ACCC chairman, Graeme Samuel, said. "The ACCC has always taken a thorough, robust and transparent approach to disputes brought before it. These decisions have now been subjected to detailed scrutiny on multiple grounds of review, and the Federal Court has found that they have passed muster on all but one small point." The decision was welcomed by the Competitive Carriers' Coalition (CCC), but it said the delay and uncertainty created by the legal challenges was, itself damaging to competition. "It is important to remember the damage being caused by the cost, uncertainty and delay created by Telstra's legal shenanigans," CCC executive director David Forman said. "Telstra dragged out the ACCC's processes to establish a fair price for the LSS for as long as possible, and then went to court to challenge those ACCC decisions, creating years of uncertainty. Even now, further cases are yet to be resolved by the courts. These delays themselves are beneficial to Telstra and harmful to competition." He added: "If Telstra's measure of success was actually winning a case, it would long ago have abandoned the seemingly endless list of legal actions it continues to pursue. But Telstra knows that every day in court and all the costs, delay and uncertainty disrupt competitors' business plans. "This is a much easier way for Telstra to deal with the threat of competition than actually trying to match competitors on price and service quality." |
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