NBN Co refutes NBN contract criticisms
- 20 February, 2012 13:44
- Comments 2
NBN Co has responded to concerns raised by a number of telcos on its special access undertaking (SAU) currently under the consideration of the Australian Communications and Consumers Commission (ACCC).
In January, telcos and ISPs including Telstra, Optus, Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA), iiNet and Internode aired their thoughts regarding the perceived lack of power the ACCC would have over the National Broadband Network (NBN) under the SAU.
The SAU dictates the price and non-price terms of the NBN for the next 30 years while the wholesale broadband agreement (WBA) sets out commercial terms between NBN Co and wholesale customers over a shorter period of time.
Telcos were concerned the WBA’s terms, which ACCC has hand in, can override the terms and conditions set in the SAU. The ACCC is granted certain powers under the SAU only.
In its submission to the ACCC, NBN Co deemed its SAU, coupled with the WBA, is adequate in addressing “the interest of access seekers, their end-users and NBN Co”.
“The SAU and the WBA have been drafted so they are complementary, capable of operating together… and are designed to ensure visibility and oversight of NBN Co’s activities by the ACCC in the manner contemplated by legislation,” NBN Co said. “[It also preserves] flexibility to innovate and adapt as technology and customer needs change over the longer term.”
But the company acknowledged the function of the WBA and how it will work with the SAU is should be considered and discussed further with more in-depth explanation provided to the telco industry.
NBN Co disputed claims by telcos the SAU places restrictions on ACCC’s powers to regulate access to the NBN.
“In fact, the SAU does quite the opposite,” NBN Co said. “The powers conferred on the ACCC by the SAU are in addition to the existing powers the ACCC has under the [Competitions and Consumers Act 2010].
NBN Co argued the SAU does not remove existing powers of the ACCC and provides “additional safeguards for access seekers”. It concluded in-built review measures in the SAU adds another layer of control for the ACCC.
The company also noted some changes to the WBA are still subject to regulatory oversight of the consumer watchdog.
The ACCC is expected to make a decision on whether to approve the NBN Co SAU by mid-year.
Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.
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Comments
Andrew
FFS, Stop playing politics and get on and build the thing before libs get in and scrap the whole lot.
Hydrans
Andrew what a stupid comment. It is not politics at all, this is business. The NBN cannot sell this to the public, if they could they would do. They need the ISPs, especially those with a high subscriber base.
The subscribers are saying that the deal is unfairly biassed towards Telstra and that it needs to be resolved before they sign the deal. How is this politics? It is about money and profit.
A some point one of the sides will blink and the other will take an advantage from it, however the ISPs know that the NBN have a deadline of 2013 to sort this out, otherwise the Libs can pull it all down. The NBN know that they can do this with out the ISPs, however it will add time and costs to the situation.
I suspect that a deal will be done mid to end of this year, after the tax year end, so that the ISPs can maximise the profits from their core infrastructure that has been invested in. Whilst taking advantage of the continued rollout of the NBN into more sectors, especially sectors that grant them a lower cost customer in a region that they did not have access to previously.
Finally, Andrew, I almost voted labour because of the NBN, then realised that one great policy does not make us for 20 bad ones, and this point has been proven time and time again in the last year, that my friend is politics, the NBN is all about money.
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