ACCC refuse to regulate access from Telstra's 'legacy' ISDN & DDAS services

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 18 June 2009 12:33

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The ACCC's view, however that the real issue was competitors being unwilling to make the investment to deliver services of equivalent quality which, it pointed out all share the same copper.

"The Commission notes that the DDAS and ISDN use the same copper access line as other services and are bound by distance limitations similar to the ULLS, LSS and xDSL services such as ADSL, BDSL and SHDSL...The Commission is of the view that xDSL technology offers services of higher functionality than that of the DDAS and ISDN when regard is had to the capacity and speed at which data can be transmitted by xDSL technology over the copper lines. The ability of xDSL technologies to meet high bandwidth requirements does not preclude them from meeting low bandwidth speeds. The issue raised by Optus in terms of viable substitutes for low bandwidth services such as ISDN is therefore not one of technical ability but rather of investment and return on investment."

Even if DSL services are technically equivalent, absent regulation and competing DSLAMs in regional exchanges, Telstra would have no constraints on pricing. The ACCC acknowledges this but gave it little consideration because Telstra's competitors failed to indicate the extent of their business dependent on the services.

The ACCC also acknowledges that provision of alternatives, other than reselling a Telstra service, will require competitors to invest in infrastructure, but says this will be a good thing. "Costs will ultimately provide benefits in terms of increased efficiency and investment in bandwidth and data transmission capabilities that will ultimately be in the long term interests of end-users.