| ACCC to keep regulation of three key Telstra wholesale services |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Friday, 28 July 2006 | |
  
The ULLS is used by competing broadband operators with their own DSLAMs. PSTN originating and terminating access services and the local carriage service are used by telephony service providers that operate their own switches. The ACCC has also decided to formalise the declaration of a wholesale line rental service (WLR). The decisions form part of the ACCC's local services review and strategic review of the regulation of fixed network services. Wholesale line rental allows access seekers to resell the basic line rental that allows an end-user to connect to the traditional voice network, make and receive voice calls and have a telephone number. "The ACCC found that regulated access to the ULLS, PSTN OTA, LCS and WLR would promote competition in a number of downstream markets..[and] has concluded that re-declaration of these access services will be in the long-term interest of end users," ACCC chairman, Graeme Samuel said. However the ACCC has already exempted LCS and WLR services in CBD areas from regulation. The ACCC has also made a final decision to revoke the declaration of the Conditioned Local Loop Service, saying that it provides little or no competitive benefits. The ACCC has also issued pricing principles and draft indicative prices. It proposes to continue the cost-based pricing approach for the ULLS and PSTN OTA services and will also seek to implement cost-based pricing for the LCS and WLR service once a robust cost model is available. In the interim, the retail-minus pricing approach will continue for the LCS and WLR. The ACCC has published draft indicative prices for these three services. but says that, because there are a number of pricing issues currently being resolved in arbitrations for the ULLS, it does not consider it appropriate to pre-empt this assessment at this time. The ACCC invites interested parties to make written submissions on the draft pricing principles for the ULLS and PSTN OTA and on the draft indicative prices for PSTN OTA, LCS and WLR by 31 August 2006. |
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