AAPT wants the ACCC to receive more regulatory power

In order for the ACCC to provide more regulated telecommunications access, to set terms and conditions and pricing and most importantly to reduce the amount of time that operators like Telstra and others can delay its decisions the AAPT are calling for its powers to be increased.

Following the Governments announcements to build its own $43 billion National Broadband Network on 7th April, details of its submission will be given by the AAPT when the Government reviews its telecommunications regulation.

Even though the Government have given submitters the option to either publicise there submissions or keep them private both AAPT and Optus have made their submissions public so far with the closing date for submissions set for 3rd June.

One of the key areas that has been covered by this discussion paper by the government is for Telstra’s structural separation and although AAPT has given no clear indication in its submission as to whether it support this action Optus is openly in favour of this. The intrinsic problems of allowing Telstra to provide wholesale services to its competitors and its own retail operators has, however, been highlighted by the AAPT.

Paul Broad, the CEO AAPT “The industry lacks simple governing rules and transparency…For example, it would be interesting to see what value Telstra’s retail division would derive if it was regulated to pay the same price for services as AAPT is charged by Telstra’s wholesale division.”

The capability of Optus to stifle its fixed line broadband rival was an area that Broad advised the AAPT were concerned about saying “It is unacceptable that businesses and consumers either suffer extensive delays in moving their services from Optus to a competitor, or cannot move at all, simply because there is no regulated process. It is easy to point the finger at Telstra, but Optus is equally culpable for the role it has played in prohibiting a competitive environment.”

Source – http://www.itwire.com