Stuart Corner
Monday, 09 October 2006 13:29
IT Policy -
Regulation
Page 1 of 2
iiNet (ASX: IIN) says its subsidiary, Chime Communications has received a draft decision from the ACCC cutting the price it pays Telstra for the line sharing service - access to a customer's copper pair to deliver ADSL while the same line is used for the PSTN - from around $9 per month to $3.20 per month.
iiNet's director regulatory, Steve Dalby has warned that, as the decision is still a draft, the price could change. "There is still a considerable amount of work required by all parties and the final rate may vary from the $3.20 Draft determination," he said. However in the past ACCC draft decisions have generally gone to final decisions with little amendment.
The impact on Telstra of a final price of $3.20 is unclear. iiNet claims to be the largest user of the LSS with some 115,000 customers, so there number is not large. Other ISPs with their own DSLAMs in general use the unconditioned local loop service which gives them full access to the copper pair for around $17 per month currently. In this situation the customer needs a second line for their PSTN service or the ISP can apply line sharing technology to its ULL and deliver a phone service, if it has its own telephone switches.
However Dalby said that a general application of the $3.20 price to the LSS could change the business case for ULL v LSS dramatically.
The ACCC's decision is the result of an arbitration by the ACC following iiNet lodging an access dispute against Telstra with the ACCC. Unlike ACCC pricing decisions on access undertakings, are arbitration decisions are generally confidential to the parties.
