Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 06 March 2008 11:38
IT Policy -
Regulation
Page 3 of 4
In a show of defiance to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Telstra said that it “stood by its decision to challenge the ACCC's powers under section 51(xxxi) of the Constitution, which guarantees just compensation when property is compulsorily acquired.”
Telstra said that the ACCC decisions were in question, saying that “wholesale customers pay as little as $14.30 per month for unbundled local loop and $2.50 per month for line-sharing, amount to compulsory acquisition of shareholders' property without fair compensation.”
Telstra complained bitterly that today’s market conditions make the ACCC’s previous decisions amount to outrageous price fixing in a world of ever rising prices, saying that: “Despite the increasing cost of copper, service vehicles, fuel and labour, the ACCC continues set wholesale prices at levels that are beneath other developed countries.”
Telstra’s Dr Phil Burgess, Group Managing Director, Public Policy & Communications, said that: "We challenged the law because we had a legal and ethical duty on behalf of our shareholders not to stand idly by while the ACCC reduced wholesale prices to some of the lowest levels in the developed world - even though network costs in Australia are the highest in the world owing to long distance, low densities and difficult terrain.”
Burgess continued that: "Today's decision shows how the law is being used by a rogue government agency, the ACCC, to arbitrarily redistribute the investments of more than one million Australians.”
Burgess concluded by saying that: "In some cases this redistribution of wealth means the savings of Australian investors have been handed over to highly-profitable foreign corporations that have no right to be subsidized, least of all by Australian investors.”
Telstra says the decision could threaten future broadband investment in Australia, saying that “the decision, which maintains the status quo, will be analysed closely by Telstra as it is likely to have an impact on future network investment decisions.”
So, what did the High Court of Australia have to say in a media statement, and who were the 11 competing Internet Service Providers that Telstra took to court along with the ACCC – and lost against? Please read onto page 4.
