Telstra fined $18.5m for denying access to exchanges

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 28 July 2010 17:55

IT Policy - Regulation

Telstra has been hit with a $18.5m penalty for denying competing broadband service providers access to its exchanges by claiming, falsely, that there was no room for their equipment. Telstra's policies and procedures for dealing with access requests were found to be woefully inadequate.

The penalty was imposed by Justice Middleton in the Federal Court in Melbourne in a case brought against Telstra by the ACCC relating specifically to Telstra's denial of access to seven key metropolitan exchanges in Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.

Telstra maintained to the companies seeking access that the main distribution frames in these exchanges were 'capped' where in fact, there was capacity or it could have been made available.

In some senses, Telstra has got off lightly. The ACCC had put a penalty of $40m to the court (Telstra submitted that the appropriate penalty was in the order of $3m-$5m). The total penalty imposed by the court was $26.5m but Justice Middleton gave Telstra a 30 percent discount for cooperation, acceptance of responsibility and for implementing a compliance programme.

Welcoming the Court's decision, ACCC chairman, Graeme Samuel, said: "The conduct occurred during a critical time of DSL based broadband growth. Telstra had both the incentive, and the ability, to prevent access seekers from deploying their own equipment."

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