The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has today published a list setting out points of interconnection to the National Broadband Network (NBN) as required under section 151DB of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA).
An NBN point of interconnection (POIs) is the location where retail service providers can connect to the NBN to provide services to their customers.
Following a public consultation process undertaken in 2010-2011, the ACCC and NBN Co agreed on the location of 121 points of interconnection. Since then, NBN Co has confirmed that 111 POIs would be located in Telstra exchanges while NBN Co will build its own facilities at the remaining ten POI locations.
NBN Co is not required to provide interconnection at a location that is not a Listed POI, if the refusal is reasonably necessary to achieve uniform national pricing. Such a refusal is ‘authorised’ for the purposes of sub-section 51(1) and as such does not constitute a breach under Part IV of the CCA.
"The approach adopted for identifying the location of POIs promotes competition in the provision of backhaul transmission services and makes sure that existing transmission infrastructure is utilised. The section 151DB list of POIs sets the boundaries for NBN Co’s access network,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
“The ACCC engaged in an extensive consultation process with stakeholders to ensure the number and location of POIs is in the best interests of consumers,” Mr Sims said.
In a consultation paper released in August 2012, the ACCC consulted with stakeholders about the form and contents of the list. The ACCC also informed stakeholders about some minor changes to the location of a small number of POIs, which were necessary due to technical and space issues.
The list published today sets out the general location of each point of interconnection but keeps the actual street address confidential for security reasons. Retail service providers requiring access to this information can obtain it directly from NBN Co under appropriate confidentiality arrangements.
The section 151DB List of POIs to the NBN is available on the ACCC website at Final list of POIs