Telstra's competitors call for wholesale ADSL to be regulated

Stuart Corner
Friday, 27 January 2012 08:29

IT Policy - Regulation

Telstra's major competitors, from Optus downwards have been unanimous in calling on the ACCC to regulate Telstra's wholesale ADSL service.

Regulation would enable the ACCC to specify the capabilities of the service and the price Telstra could charge. Telstra, not surprisingly ins opposed to regulation.

The ACCC has released public versions of submissions to its wholesale ADSL declaration enquiry from Telstra, Optus, AAPT, Macquarie Telecom and TPG and a combined submission from law firm Herbert Geer on iiNet, Internode, Adam Internet, Primus and TransACT.

Telstra argues that the broadband market is already highly competitive. "There is substantial facilities-based competition, particularly in CBD and metropolitan areas. Telstra's competitors actively and aggressively compete with Telstra on a national basis using alternative technologies (including the Unconditional Local Loop Service (ULLS) and Line Sharing Service (LSS), both of which are declared, as well as wireless technology) and offer the same retail products as Telstra does across a broad geographic footprint."

It claims that declaration of the wholesale ADSL service would only serve to limit the incentives for access seekers to invest in DSLAMs and other alternative infrastructure."

Its competitors, however argue that, in regional and rural areas it would be uneconomic for them to compete using their own DSLAMs, that the wholesale offering from Telstra does not enable them to compete with Telstra's retail offering and that it lacks functionality.