Telstra faces fine of $33.22m for blocking exchange access (Australia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A fine of AUD40 million (USD33.22 million) has been faced by Australian fixed line incumbent Telstra for breaching obligations related to allowing its competitors access to its exchanges. Penalty is thought to be levied by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) against Telstra for each occasion it refused rivals access to its exchanges.
The watchdog is allowed to apply fines of up to AUD10 million under the existing legislation for each of the 27 incidences of refusal. However, it has been understood that the telco has admitted that it mistakenly rejected applications the ACCC is considering smaller penalties.
Although Telstra has claimed that the errors were the result of junior staff acting improperly, rather than following an official company policy, it has admitted that it wrongly denied access to alternative operators. Both the ACCC and Telstra have made their final submissions in the case and the final verdict lies with Federal Court.
Telstra faces legal action for blocking exchange access (Australia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: After a legal battle was initiated by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) against Australian telecom operator Telstra in March 2009, the court proceeding has finally started. It has been claimed by ACCC that the telco had deliberately delayed the rollout of rivals’ ADSL networks.
The case will be heard by the Federal Court in Melbourne. It has been alleged in the case that there was no room in local exchanges for other operators’ equipment, with existing legislation allowing for fines of up to AUD10 million (USD9.23 million) for every violation of the rules. Apart from this, the case contains allegations of 30 separate occasions on which access was blocked.
The claims of ACCC has been refuted by Telstra which has announced that it had voluntarily instituted a review of the access issues more than a year earlier, and had fixed them. However, in August 2009, the telco surprisingly admitted that it was guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct in denying competitors’ access to its copper network in a filing to the Federal Court on July 31.
Optus to acquire Qualcomm’s 3G spectrum (Australia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to have more capacity to meet strong demand for data services, further third generation mobile spectrum will be bought by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. unit Optus from Qualcomm Inc.
Licenses of 10 MHz of paired spectrum will be acquired by Optus under the deals which in turn will double its 2100 MHz paired spectrum holdings in Australian capital cities to 20 MHz from 10 MHz.
The new 3G spectrum will be used to support retail and wholesale customer demand for Optus’ increasing range of data services. The deal is subject to approval from Australia’s Foreign Investments Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
According to Andrew Buay, managing director of Optus Products and Delivery, it is very important that Government finalize three major spectrum policy decisions which will shape the future of the mobile industry in Australia, that is the allocation of the digital dividend for mobile broadband services; the allocation of 2.5 GHz spectrum for mobile broadband services; and greater certainty regarding the cost and timing of the renewal of expiring 3G spectrum licenses
Faulty Handset Policy fixed by Vodafone Hutchison Australia
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Court enforceable undertakings from Vodafone Hutchison Australia have been accepted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The decision came after an investigation into alleged misrepresentations about consumers’ rights to a remedy for faulty mobile phones.
It was alleged that from 1 May 2008 to 8 June 2009 a handset direction was implemented by Hutchison which involved staff making representations to its customers and that the only remedy available to them for a faulty mobile phone was a repair.
According to ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel, Hutchison created an untenable situation where consumers with 15 day old faulty mobile phones were told they were only entitled to a repair, while a customer was able to obtain a replacement mobile phone was during the ‘early life failure’ period, which was normally 14 days after purchase.
Telstra needn’t share, ACCC tells telcos
The national competition regulator today said there was currently no need to force Telstra to provide wholesale access to its new ADSL and third-generation (3G) Next G mobile networks.
In a speech given in Melbourne today, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman, Graeme Samuel, said Telstra had recently raised the issue of wholesale access to the networks, in relation to new infrastructure developments.
“The declaration of a resale mobile service that Optus appears to be advocating in relation to Telstra’s Next G 850MHz network has not been contemplated by the ACCC,” Samuel said, noting facilities-based competition had delivered results in the mobile market.
News Limited newspapers have reported that Optus has demanded access to Next G because the network will eventually replace Telstra’s CDMA network, on which Optus currently has some 40,000 customers.
Samuel said the ACCC had not seen a need to take formal steps towards regulating mobile services other than voice termination since a 2003 review.
In regards to Telstra’s ADSL network, Samuel noted Telstra had not yet launched its ADSL2+ service into the market. The telco currently provides wholesale access to its ADSL1 service.
The chairman directed enquiries about Telstra’s ADSL network to a June 2006 ACCC position paper, A Strategic Review of Fixed Network Services.
“The Commission … considers that a compelling case for declaration of a wholesale xDSL service at this time has not been made,” an extract from the paper quoted by Samuel said.
The paper instead states a preference for generating facilities-based competition through the unbundled local loop service (ULLS). The service allows access to Telstra’s copper network but requires telcos to have their own infrastructure in Telstra’s telephone exchanges.
In both of these areas, Samuel noted the ACCC would continue to monitor the competitive environment. He pointed out that if Telstra wanted to achieve “regulatory certainty” on its investments, it could apply for more clarity and special treatment under mechanisms in the Trade Practices Act.
Is it really that fast?
What Samuel described as “excessive claims of speed by network service providers” are also on the ACCC’s radar. Samuel pointed out the practice of advertising speeds as “up to” a certain threshold was not good enough.
The ACCC supremo cautioned mobile carriers advertising the new generation of 3G services based on the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) protocol to be mindful of their advertising obligations and disclose all factors affecting speed, particularly when claiming speeds of above 2Mbps.
Source- http://www.zdnet.com.au
