Telstra puts legal squeeze on Conroy

IF the Rudd Government thought Telstra was going to take some of the heat out of its legal battle over the Coalition’s awarding of Commonwealth money to a competitor, it must be disappointed.

Telstra has confirmed it will continue legal action to force the disclosure of documents used by the Howard Government to justify the awarding of $958 million to the Optus/Elders (Opel) joint-venture to build broadband infrastructure in regional Australia.

The company has simply switched the focus of court action from former Communications Minister Helen Coonan – with whom the company had a poisonous relationship – to the new Minister, Stephen Conroy.

Telstra said yesterday it would write to Senator Conroy and ask him to cut short the court action by voluntarily releasing the documents that would explain how the decision to award the business to Opel was made.

The company said it would proceed with plans to appeal to the Federal Court a lower court decision that denied it access to the documents.

“Telstra first took this legal action based on the principle that governments should act transparently and be accountable when they spend taxpayers' money,” Telstra group managing director for public policy and communications Phil Burgess said in a statement.

“We also believe that Telstra shareholders, who are also taxpayers, deserve to know how a commercial rival was given such a large taxpayer-subsidised benefit despite the existence of a competitive market in mobiles.”

The move comes exactly seven months since he announcement by the then Government that it would fund the OPEL wireless broadband network for regional Australia.

“Seven months later OPEL has no management, no carrier license, no confirmed spectrum and no settled technology platform. It is, in every sense, a phantom network offering phantom services to phantom customers,” Dr Burgess said.

For more Telecommunications news, click here.



For more Satellite and Boradcasting news click here.

Telstra attacks ACCC as “rogue regulator”

THE ACCC has revoked a competition notice issued against Telstra over wholesale line rental prices, only to be immediately attacked by the company.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had issued the Competition Notice in April last year, saying it “had reason to believe Telstra’s wholesale and retail pricing was anti-competitive.

Had the regulator successfully pursues the action, Telstra would have been liable to fines of up to $3 million a day – or about $1 billion since the notice was issued.

The ACCC now says that in light of changed regulatory circumstances, further enforcement action was no longer warranted.

“In light of the changing regulatory circumstances, including the declaration of the Wholesale Line Rental service, it was not necessary to keep the notice in force,” the ACCC said in a statement.

“This decision followed consultation with industry about developments since the service was declared, and the ACCC also took into account some changed market circumstances that were reported in this consultation.”

Telstra welcomed the decision to abandon the action, which it called “ill-conceived and unfounded.” The company now wants Government to rein in the ACCC’s powers in the telecommunications industry, calling it a “rogue regulator.”

Telstra public policy and communications group managing director Phil Burgess said exposing Telstra shareholders to a $1 billion potential maximum penalty “was an example of the heavy-handed exercise of extraordinary powers given to the ACCC.”

Mr Burgess said there never were legitimate grounds for the ACCC to issue a competition notice against Telstra because the company had consulted the regulator before making changes to wholesale prices in December 2005.

“The problem here is pretty simple to describe,” Mr Burgess said. “The ACCC has special powers over Telstra that allow it to shoot first and ask questions later. That is not the way things should work in a democratic society.”

“The ACCC's addiction to intrusive regulation continues to damage Telstra, weaken the telecommunications industry, and stunt broadband investment for Australia's future,” he said.

For more Telecommunications news click here.