Discussion paper13 Apr 2005
On 13 April 2005 the ACCC released a discussion paper on Vodafone's replacement MTAS access undertaking and commenced a public consultation.
ACCC discussion paper
Submissions to discussion paper on Vodafone's second MTAS access undertaking
PricewaterhouseCoopers report - on behalf of Vodafone
On 28 October 2005 Vodafone submitted as ‘further corroborative evidence that the undertaking target price of 16.15 cpm is reasonable and conservative’ a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers in relation to a re-run of the original cost model prepared for Vodafone which incorporates data for the financial year 2003-04 and corrects a number of errors that had been identified in the original model. This report was received some seven months after initial submission of the Vodafone MTAS undertaking and more than two months after the final date the ACCC had set for submissions in response to the discussion paper.
As could reasonably be expected the ACCC was considerably advanced in its assessment of both the Vodafone MTAS undertaking and the submissions made by all interested parties in relation to it at the time it received the PricewaterhouseCoopers Model Re-run Report. Further, the report prepared by the ACCC’s external consultant, Analysys Consulting Ltd (Analysys), in relation to the original PricewaterhouseCoopers model was extremely close to completion. As such the ACCC’s ability to assess this ‘re-run’ report and the underlying model and model inputs for the purpose of its draft decision on the Vodafone MTAS undertaking was compromised. Accordingly the weight the ACCC was able to place on this information in forming its draft view on the undertaking was necessarily limited. The ACCC expected to be able to conduct a more thorough analysis of this material in reaching a final view on the Vodafone MTAS undertaking.
Vodafone advised the ACCC that a confidential version of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report and the accompanying re-run of the model were made available to interested parties that sought access to the information which Vodafone claimed to be confidential commercial information.
The ACCC retained Analysys Consulting Pty Ltd to provide advice on the re-run cost model prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers for Vodafone, in support of Vodafone's MTAS undertaking.