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VIRTUALISATION New legislation gives greater protection to Telstra competitors
VIRTUALISATION New legislation gives greater protection to Telstra competitors | New legislation gives greater protection to Telstra competitors |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Tuesday, 15 September 2009 | |
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The explanatory memorandum to the proposed legislation - the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2009 - says "Since the introduction of these measures in 1997 their operation has been criticised by many in industry as being overly protracted, and vulnerable to 'gaming' by parties with an incentive to delay or damage new entrants. Attempts have been made to improve aspects of the regime, but with limited success. Building on extensive consultations with industry, regulatory agencies and the public, this Bill will significantly reform the competition regime to address these problems." The current competition regime is centred around legislated (declared) access to key services and gives the ACCC power to arbitrate disputes. It also empowers the ACCC to try and prevent dominant players, specifically Telstra, from abusing market power. The current legislation requires an access seeker to first negotiate with Telstra for access to a declared service (an odd concept when the service is essential to the access seeker's business and there is no alternative supplier) and if negotiation is unsuccessful gives the ACCC power to arbitrate. This mechanism gives Telstra ample opportunity to spin the process out as long as possible and provides it with no incentive to resolve the dispute expeditiously as doing so only increases the level of competition it faces. Under the proposed changes the ACCC will be required to set price and non-price terms and conditions for declared services. Access seekers will be free to try and seek better terms but will be able to demand supply on the ACCC's terms as and when they choose. CONTINUED
This article first appeared in ExchangeDaily, iTWire's daily newsletter for telecommunications professionals. Register here for your free trial.
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