Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 01:21
IT Policy -
Regulation
Page 1 of 2
The Competitive Carriers’ Coalition has damned Telstra for dropping its retail prices, saying that it hasn’t also dropped its wholesale pricing, a complaint some CCC members have had before the ACCC for the last month. Can Telstra really drop retail prices without the same on the wholesale front, or is Telstra having a wholesale rip of its competition?
Telstra has finally dropped its BigPond broadband pricing, fulfilling its CEO David Thodey’s promise to “come back” on pricing it went “too far” on from an investor’s briefing in November 2009.
The biggest price drop concerned the 200GB plan, which went from an exquisitely eye-watering $179.95 to a much more palatable $89.95, massively undercutting most of its competitors who remain well above the $100 level.
Telstra also happened to have some research handy that showed many more people had at least four internet capable devices in their homes, and even stats showing that some men and women saw access to the Internet as more important that food or heating... amongst other research that, as I noted, produced what were seemingly quite obvious results.
But instead of celebrating the opportunity to start offering more competitive pricing of its own, the Competitive Carriers’ Coalition (CCC) has come out, all guns blazing, screaming bloody murder over Telstra not actually dropping wholesale pricing so competitors can better compete.
While Telstra’s current and prospective customers rejoice, competitors are forced to revoice concerns that “Telstra is exploiting its market power to illegally undercut competitors’ pricing.”
The CCC’s press release also notes that “even in the face of these complaints, Telstra announced further cuts to its retail broadband prices without announcing similar cuts to its wholesale prices.”
A CCC spokesman explained its position in more detail, noting that: “Telstra owns the monopoly access network that all communications carriers must use to deliver services, and has a sorry record of exploiting this market power to undermine competition.
“Telstra has been acting in ways that are clearly provocative", we see the CCC spokesperson say.
The outraged CCC cccoments cccontinue on page two, please read on!
