ACCC fixes prices for wholesale ADSL services

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 14 February 2012 16:11

IT Policy - Regulation

The ACCC has 'declared' the wholesale ADSL service, determining the price Telstra (and others) can charge wholesale customers for the service.

The ACCC has set interim prices that will apply for the next 12 months of $25.40 per end user per month in zone 1 (predominantly metropolitan and CBD areas) and $30.80 in zone 2 (predominantly regional and rural areas).

The monthly charge for an aggregating virtual circuit or virtual LAN that wholesalers will need to get their traffic to and from Telstra's DSLAMs has been set at $45.50 per month per Mbps of bandwidth to 30 June 2012 and $33.65 per Mbps from 1 July 2012.

These prices will apply pending completion by the ACCC of a final access determination for the wholesale DSL service that could take up to six months.

According to the ACCC, "Declaration will remove impediments to competitive Internet service providers gaining access to Telstra's national ADSL network on efficient terms in order to supply retail services, including to around 11 percent of premises where Telstra's network architecture has prevented competitors from using their own infrastructure."

The ACCC said that it believed its decision would promote the long-term interests of end-users of fixed-line broadband Internet services throughout Australia.

"Telstra currently retains dominant positions in the markets for both retail and wholesale fixed-line broadband services," it said. "Despite the deployment of competitive broadband infrastructure in some areas over the past decade, competition in the supply of ADSL services is not effective."

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