The Australian regulator extended regulation of six services provided by Telstra to 2024.
Background: Historically, Telstra has had significant market power in six fixed-line services (LLU, shared access, wholesale line rental, local carriage, and fixed origination and termination). These services were “declared” by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which then imposed regulation on Telstra as a result.
What’s new? As usual, the ACCC reviewed the declarations ahead of their expiry. It renewed the declarations, which means Telstra will have to provide access to these wholesale services, and regulated prices apply where parties do not reach an agreement.
Why it matters: The declaration for another five years means that the rollout of the NBN, which will replace Telstra’s fixed network, is not progressing fast enough to remove the need for regulation. While the NBN rollout should be completed by 2020, millions of customers still rely on Telstra’s network.
Next steps: The ACCC will now make a separate consultation to set out access prices and conditions; this will also cover Telstra’s wholesale ADSL services. It is expected to be finalised by June 2019.
