The government today released the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's advice on the number and location of initial Points of Interconnect (POI) to the National Broadband Network (NBN).
The government had requested the ACCC and NBN Co to conduct a public consultation and provide advice on the competition implications of alternative options for locating POIs, which are the locations where access seekers will connect to the NBN.
The ACCC's advice, which was submitted to the government on 30 November 2010, recommended a 'semi-distributed' approach to initial POI locations. Under this approach, POIs would be located in areas serviced by two or more transmission operators or where a transmission route is likely to become competitive.
The ACCC's advice also recommends a process for reviewing POI locations should competitive outcomes not eventuate on particular transmission routes, and for adding POIs to enable competitive transmission to develop where market conditions change to make new entry feasible. The ACCC has already indicated that access determinations for transmission will be a priority in 2011.
Since submitting its advice to government, the ACCC has been working closely with NBN Co to identify the precise number and location of POIs in accordance with the competition criteria contained in the ACCC's advice.
"NBN Co have been cooperating with ACCC staff in applying the recommendations to locate the initial POIs to the NBN", ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said. NBN Co has identified a list of 120 initial POIs as meeting the criteria recommended by the ACCC.
The list of initial POI locations will be now subject to a public confirmation process, where stakeholders can identify any unintended consequences from the location of a specified POI.
Stakeholder responses to the confirmation process are due by 5 pm on 14 January 2011.
The ACCC's advice, further details on the confirmation process and other related material will be available on the ACCC website.