Telstra welcomes one small reduction in its regulatory burden

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 11:53

Opinion and Analysis

Paradoxically what Telstra is celebrating today is not the removal of reporting requirement per se but the removal of an obligation to provide a customer service! The Digital Data Service to be precise: a service delivering a minimum of 64Kbps that Telstra, until last December, was required to provide to 96 percent of the population under the Universal Service Obligation.

And Telstra has already 'celebrated' its release from that obligation once, last December when communications minister Stephen Conroy issued the Digital Data Service Provider Declaration Revocation 2008 (No. 1).

At that time, Telstra group managing director, public policy and communications, David Quilty (Phil Burgess' successor), said the declaration was a classic example of outdated regulation that could easily be removed with no impact on customer service.

He explained that the Government had a policy commitment to reducing unnecessary red tape and the telecommunications sector, which, he said, had "a number of outdated and wasteful regulations holding back technology innovation," adding: "We look forward to the continued reduction in unnecessary red tape as part of the Federal Government's commitment to deregulation."

What Telstra is 'celebrating' today is not another small step in that direction but simply the final wash-up of that declaration: tabling in Parliament of the Statute Stocktake Bill 2009. This is simply a bill to remove any references to the now defunct DDS from various other legislation covering the provision of telecommunications services.

Telstra can welcome the removal of red tape as much as it likes, but if most of the submissions to the NBN regulatory review paper are any guide, the only way Telstra is going to be subject to less regulation and, and hence less reporting, is if it agrees to be split up into wholesale and retail entities.