Part 1. Introductory Section

Introduction

On 19 December 2002, the Telecommunications Competition Act 2002 came into effect making certain amendments to the telecommunications industry regulatory regime in Parts XIB and XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (‘TPA’).1 Amongst the package of reforms was a new regulatory requirement concerning the establishment of model terms and conditions relating to access to core telecommunications services.2

Specifically, the new s152AQB requires the Commission to publish a written determination concerning non-binding model price and non-price terms and conditions of access for each of the “core” services.3 This final Determination addresses the non-price aspects of this legislative requirement.

Background

Prior to the 2002 amendments, noted above, the Commission had approved an access code developed by the now defunct, Telecommunications Access Forum (TAF). The TAF was officially dissolved on 31 January 2002. Prior to its dissolution, the TAF requested that the Commission consider making a Telecommunications Access Code under Part XIC of the Act to replace and update the existing TAF code.

Section 152BJ of the Act empowers the Commission to make a Telecommunications Access Code. The Commission continues to have the power to make its own access code, even in the absence of the TAF. In this context, the Commission considered that there were a number of issues that could be included in such a code, including more detailed information about non-price terms and conditions. The Commission, however, concluded that under the current legislation, such a code would, like the TAF code, be voluntary and unlikely to be effective. Accordingly, to date, the Commission has not made a Telecommunications Access Code under s152BJ(1). That said, the Commission retains a power to make a telecommunications code, as distinct from making model terms and conditions.

In April 2002, the Government announced a proposed package of measures in response to the Productivity Commission’s review of telecommunications competition regulation.4 A key component of the package was the requirement for the Commission to produce benchmark terms and conditions for core telecommunications services such as Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) interconnect, Local Call Resale (LCR) and Unconditioned Local Loop Services (ULLS). These measures were intended to provide greater certainty and encourage the industry to resolve access issues in a more timely manner, as well as reducing the potential for regulatory gaming.5

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1 Telecommunications Competition Act 2002, No 140, 2002

2 Schedule 2, Part 1 of the Telecommunications Competition Act 2002 inserted a new s152AQB into the Act