ACCC action 'a waste of time': Telstra

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 19 March 2009 10:52

IT Industry - Market

"You have a situation where a company proactively checks its processes, finds minor and inadvertent errors, immediately rectifies the problem but is hounded through the courts regardless," said Quilty.

Not surprisingly, the Competitive Carriers' Coalition (CCC) has welcomed the ACCC's action.

"Member companies of the Competitive Carriers' Coalition have for years been complaining to the ACCC that Telstra has been frustrating their attempts to exercise their legal rights to access Telstra exchange buildings so they can install their own equipment," said CCC executive director David Forman.

He claimed that Telstra's actions have prevented consumers from being given the choice of competing services.

Foreman added "Telstra's claims that it will provide for competition on a new network simply can’t be believed when the industry remains mired in intractable debates about the rights of competitors to access even the existing network.

"It is 12 years since the market was supposedly opened to competition, yet the regulator is still forced to go to court to force Telstra to meet its obligations."

The CCC's view is that this issue shows why the owner of the proposed national broadband network (NBN) should not be allowed to be both a wholesaler and retailer of services.