The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has revoked regulations requiring Telstra to report to the ACCC on its wholesale and retail operations, known as the Accounting Separation Record Keeping Rules.
The ACCC was able to revoke the reporting requirements after the Minister for Communications decided last week to revoke a Direction obliging the ACCC to oversee the accounting separation of Telstra.
“The telecommunications regulatory landscape has changed a great deal since accounting separation reporting was introduced in 2003,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
“The ACCC welcomes the Minister’s decision to remove requirements that the ACCC oversee Telstra’s accounting separation.”
The accounting separation reporting framework was put in place to provide transparency over Telstra’s wholesale and retail operations and to help identify if Telstra was discriminating against its wholesale customers in favour of its retail business.
These reporting requirements have been superseded by a more comprehensive reporting framework under Telstra’s Structural Separation Undertaking, which was approved by the ACCC in February 2012.