Telstra wants $30 per month for ULL service

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 17 January 2006 07:54

IT Policy - Regulation

The ACCC has made public Telstra's latest Unconditioned Local Loop Service (ULLS) monthly charge access undertaking, submitted along with confidential supporting submissions on 23 December 2005. It reveals that Telstra wants to charge $30 per month for the ULL, regardless of location,

The undertaking was lodged following the ACCC's final decision on 21 December 2005 to reject Telstra's previous ULLS monthly charges undertaking. The ACCC also issued a draft decision rejecting Telstra's ULLS connection charge undertaking lodged on 13 December 2004. Telstra has withdrawn that undertaking.

In the previous, undertaking, submitted in December 2004. Telstra proposed monthly charges ranging from $13 per month in CBDs to $100 per month in the most remote locations.

ACCC commissioner, Ed Willett, said the ACCC had issued Telstra's undertaking to allow interested parties a longer period of time in which to assess the proposal. "The ACCC is preparing a discussion paper, seeking submissions on the undertakings, which it plans to issue shortly together with supporting public material from Telstra. The formal consultation period will begin when the discussion paper and related material has been issued".

The ACCC says it has requested public versions of supporting submissions from Telstra and will issue these when it receives them. The ACCC has expressed its ongoing concerns that failing to lodge public versions of supporting material at the time of lodging undertakings is delaying the consideration of those undertakings (public versions of supporting submissions for the 13 Dec 20054 Undertaking were not received from Telstra until March 2005).

Separately, the ACCC is still seek submissions on its recently issued draft decision on Telstra's connection and disconnection undertakings for Line Sharing Service (LSS).