ITWire

The CCC - a group representing telecommunications carriers other than Telstra - is complaining about yesterday's decision by Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, to grant Telstra certain exemptions from 2011 laws that require anyone building a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to operate it in the same way as the NBN.

"The so-called open access arrangements approved by Minister Conroy yesterday is vastly inferior and more limited than that offered by NBN Co, and is less competitive to the service Telstra is required to offer over its copper network," said an anonymous CCC spokesperson.

The CCC is highlighting seven specific points:

'¢ "The arrangement will not provide competitors with access to the same services that NBN Co will be offering, making it difficult for them to transition to the NBN;

'¢ "Of the three speeds offered by Telstra, the 8Mbps option does not meet the national commitment for 12Mbps;

'¢ "There is no commitment from Telstra that the wholesale services will be equivalent in any way to Telstra Retail services, opening the door to a return to the worst competitive abuses of the past;

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