Telstra charging too much: ACCC

AN Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has found, in a draft decision, that the price Telstra charges its competitors for access to its copper lines to be unreasonable.

Chime Communications CEO Stephen Dalby said while the decision did not affect the roll-out of its own telecommunications infrastructure, Chime was monitoring ACCC decisions carefully as it could impact the other areas currently under review.

Chime is the national wholesale telecommunications provider to Perth-based ISP iiNet.

The ACCC’s decision is part of its year long review of Telstra’s pricing model for the core network services it provides to competitors.

Those competitors can either pay Telstra to access existing infrastructure for high speed Internet, or build their own.

However, Telstra pricing has been under ACCC review amid claims of anticompetitive behaviour.

The ACCC has not said how much Telstra is overcharging its competitors and will continue its review before handing down a final decision next year.

The draft report concerned the ACCC’s assessment of Telstra’s revised access undertakings for core telecommunications services.

Telstra spokesman Rod Bruem said the ACCC decision was “not something that would have much impact”.

“The price they are now saying is unreasonable is a price they said was reasonable two years ago,” he said.

“The ACCC is trying to establish a set of regulatory benchmarks.”