Stuart Corner
Monday, 11 February 2008 04:49
IT Policy -
Regulation
Page 1 of 2
Communications minister, Stephen Conroy, has stated very publicly that he has given no indication to Telstra that the Government will intervene, and if necessary prevent the ACCC imposing regulated access on Telstra' ADSL2+ network. It is, he says, a matter entirely for the ACCC.
For 18 months since it launched ADSL2+ services in areas already served by competitors, Telstra has refused to turn on services in those areas where it would be the first provider,
claiming it was afraid the ACCC would regulate and require it to provide wholesale access. It reversed that decision,
very publicly, last week in the presence of Conroy and prime minister, Kevin Rudd, c
laiming it had, in effect received a guarantee from the government that these services would not be regulated. Absent any public commitment from the Government to this effect, there has been much speculation of private assurances given to Telstra.
Now Conroy, on the ABC's Inside Business programme, has categorically denied this. Asked by host, Alan Kohler, "Have you made a commitment?" Conroy replied: "Under law, I have no role, any decision that I would purportedly make would actually hold no standing in law, this is a matter for the ACCC as I explained in my letter [to Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo] and in all my public statements I've made it very clear that this is properly the matter for the ACCC but on the basis of the public statements and the conversations that I had with the ACCC, I was happy to write to Telstra and if that gave them the comfort to be able to switch on 900 exchanges that reached 2.4 million households, then this was a win-win...My letter confirms what the ACCC have said, but Telstra haven't received a decision by Stephen Conroy because Stephen Conroy can't make a decision. What I did was, after speaking with the ACCC, confirm the view that the ACCC have put forward and agree with the position of the ACCC."
