The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released a discussion paper inviting comment on four measures developed by Telstra under its migration plan.
The measures are intended to provide appropriate protections to consumers and competition during the migration from Telstra’s copper and HFC networks to the NBN. Telstra was required to develop these measures and seek the ACCC’s approval as it did not have fully effective processes in place at the time of lodgement of the migration plan.
The discussion paper focuses on the measure relating to Telstra’s NBN Co Information Security Plan. This plan details the way that Telstra will secure confidential information provided to it by NBN Co under the Definitive Agreements. These measures will be important in ensuring that Telstra does not obtain an unfair commercial advantage from information sourced from NBN Co under those agreements.
The ACCC also seeks comment on three measures that relate to the processes that Telstra will follow when disconnecting services from its copper and HFC networks on the disconnection date (18 months after NBN Co declares a region ‘ready for service’) and the circumstances where Telstra will build copper paths to supply services that are not yet available over the NBN. These measures will potentially have important implications for the ability of consumers to access fixed line services.
Interested parties are invited to make written submissions on the discussion paper by 5pm on 14 December 2012.
The discussion paper is available on the ACCC website at Telstra's migration plan required measures