The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today released its final decision on the prices that other operators pay to use Telstra’s copper network to provide telecommunications services to consumers.
The final decision will require a one-off uniform fall of 9.4 per cent in access prices from current levels for the seven fixed line access services. The new prices will apply from 1 November 2015 until 30 June 2019.
The ACCC dealt with a number of difficult and complex issues during the inquiry, including:
- the ongoing migration of access seekers’ customers from Telstra’s access network to NBN Co with an uncertain technological NBN model
- the impact of the migration on costs and demand
- the loss of economies of scale from migration, and who should pay for this
- the deal between Telstra and NBN Co and how it should be accounted for in access prices
- proposed changes to cost allocation methods and price structures.
Frontier (Australia) advised a number of access seekers to Telstra’s network during this review, providing submissions on the appropriate treatment of NBN payments, cost and demand forecasts, cost allocation and price structure.
For more information, please contact Marita O’Keeffe on m.okeeffe@frontier-economics.com.au or phone +61 3 9620 4488.
