Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 06 February 2008 09:49
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Telstra has announced that it intends to roll out ADSL2+ services in a further 900 exchanges claiming it has received assurances from the Government that it will not be forced to wholesale these services to other providers. While I welcome Telstra's decision I am totally gobsmacked at the way it has tried to make out that the Government has bypassed the ACCC. Nothing is further from the truth.
Telstra issued a press release announcing that it would activate high-speed ADSL2+ broadband at more than 900 telephone exchanges serving 2.4 million consumers across every state and territory, and saying that the move came "after the Government made clear it did not consider a compelling case had been made for regulating third-party access to the service – an assurance sought by Telstra for more than one year."
Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo said: "This simple act of the new Government unlocks the potential of high-speed broadband for households and businesses around Australia, enabling more people to fully participate in remote education, send or receive x-rays and medical files, rapidly download videos or run their business without sacrificing time with their families."
There is nothing untrue in these statements but they are certainly very, and I suggest intentionally, misleading. Firstly the power to regulate third-party access to Telstra's ADLS2+ service rests with Graeme Samuel and the ACCC and is vested in legislation. It is inconceivable that the government would even canvass the possibility of it over-riding due process and bypassing this legislation to give an assurance to Telstra that it will not be regulated.
Nor is the Government seeking to claim credit for the result of the ACCC exercising its powers and arriving at a decision not to regulate after following due process. In fact, nothing of significance has happened since Telstra first announced, in November 2006, that it would offer ADSL2+ services but only from those exchanges where its competitors were already doing the same.
Telstra claimed it was afraid that, were it to go in first, the ACCC would order it to resell access at regulated prices, but it never formally applied to the ACCC for a decision. However, ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said at the time, and has said repeatedly since, that he did not see regulated access to Telstra's ADSL2+ as necessary. Nevertheless, Telstra has held off, until today.
