Telstra's participation in the NBN one step closer

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 23 February 2012 15:06

IT Policy - Regulation

Telstra has taken a significant step forward to completing its agreement to participate in the NBN with the lodgement today of a revised structural separation undertaking (SSU) with the ACCC.

Acceptance of the SSU by the ACCC is the final hurdle to Telstra signing off on the definitive agreements that will govern Telstra's participation in the NBN and give NBN Co access to its ducts and exchanges in order to roll out the FTTH network. The lack of this access has been holding up NBN Co's rollout plans.

Announcing the lodgement, Telstra CEO, David Thodey, said the revised SSU was the result of multiple rounds of public consultation. "I am pleased the ACCC has acknowledged that their concerns have been addressed and I note their commitment to consider the SSU promptly," he said.

This would suggest that Telstra has provided acceptable responses to the ACCC's concerns, but that is not exactly what the ACCC said. Its announcement quoted chairman, Rod Sims, saying: "This further version addresses those drafting issues raised during the recent consultation process that were of concern to the ACCC."

The distinction is subtle, but Sims' wording does not convey the same sense of resolution as Thodey's.

The ACCC said it did propose to consult further on the revised undertaking and was now moving to finalise its decision, which it expects to announce shortly.

Time is running out, and failure by the ACCC to accept the undertaking would create enormous upheaval in NBN planning and execution.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy has already extended the deadline several times, to 31 March and no further extensions are possible. http://www.itwire.com/it-policy-news/regulation/51853 Failure to meet this deadline will trigger a legislated requirement giving Telstra six months to complete full functional separation instead.

According to Telstra, "The changes made to the revised [version of the original] SSU lodged in December 2011 include clarification on the operation of the overarching equivalence commitment, and how wholesale customers access reference prices for regulated services."

However Telstra's competitors raised serious concerns with that version, and in particular with the overarching equivalence obligation (OEO) component, describing it as "fundamentally flawed".