Cases
Legislation
Regulatory developments
Industry Developments
On 3 October 2007 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) was notified of two access disputes between Macquarie Telcom Pty Ltd and Telstra pursuant to Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
One dispute concerns the price paid by the access seeker to the access provider for the Digital Data Access Service—a service that facilitates the carriage of certain communications, mainly data in digital form, between customer equipment at an end user’s premises in Australia and a point of interconnection.
The second dispute relates to the price paid by the access seeker to the access provider for the Domestic Transmission Capacity Service—a declared service supplied by Telstra to access seekers.
The arbitration process for these access disputes has commenced. However, as the ACCC will be conducting the arbitrations in private, it will not make any public comment at this stage.
For further information please visit the ACCC website.
On 20 September 2007 the Communications Legislation Amendment (Crime or Terrorism Related Internet Content) Bill 2007 (Bill) was introduced into the Senate. The Bill proposes to expand the black list of internet addresses, currently maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), to include crime and terrorism-related websites hosted domestically and overseas.
The proposed amendment is part of the Federal Government’s NetAlert program. Currently, ACMA has the power to blacklist websites that contain offensive or pornographic content. However, under the proposed amendment, the Australian Federal Police would be able to refer additional websites that are outside the National Classification Scheme to ACMA for blacklisting. Internet service providers would then have the responsibility of taking reasonable steps to ensure that access to the website and related content is prevented.
For further information please visit the Parliament of Australia website.
On 13 September 2007 the Minister for Communications Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, announced that the local content obligation for regional radio will be set at three hours per day.
A lower content obligation will be implemented for small, remote, racing and section 40 broadcasters. Broadcasters operating under licences issued under section 40 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 will have a local content requirement of 30 minutes. Remote and racing radio broadcasters will have a daily local content requirement of five minutes. However this is only an interim measure until legislative amendments are passed to exempt those broadcasters from complying with the licence condition.
The amendments are pursuant to the Local Content Levels Investigation Report conducted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) which recommended that:
- the previously legislated requirement of 4.5 hours would significantly impact on the profitability of regional radio broadcasters
- the definition of ‘material of local significance’ should be interpreted broadly, and
- compliance should be spread across five days in the week and that a six week non-compliance period should be introduced.
Further, Senator Coonan is seeking to extend the daytime period during which the quota must be broadcast from the current hours of 6.00am–6.00pm, to the hours of 5.00am–8.00pm.
The general obligation to broadcast local content will take effect from 1 January 2008.
For further information on local content obligations please visit Senator Coonan's website or theACMA website.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has announced that from 1 October 2007 activities posing potential risk or damage to submarine communications cables off Sydney beaches Narrabeen and Tamarama/Clovelly will be prohibited or restricted.
ACMA has stated that submarine cables are fundamental to the Australian economy as they carry more than 99 per cent of Australia’s international and voice data traffic.
ACMA is responsible for declaring protection zones over cables of national significance and issuing permits to install submarine cables in Australian waters.
Activities such as trawling and dredging are prohibited. Variable restrictions apply to other activities according to the potential risk of damage to the submarine cables. Significant criminal penalties apply for engaging in prohibited or restricted activities.
For further information please visit the ACMA website.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced that the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia Limited’s (PPCA) collective licensing arrangements for the public performance or broadcast of sound recordings have been reauthorised subject to a number of conditions.
PPCA is a copyright collecting society concerned with upholding the interests of record companies and Australian recording artists. PPCA’s collective licensing arrangements operate by owners of sound recordings granting the PPCA a non-exclusive right to license the public performance and transmission rights of their sound recordings.
The ACCC has stated that PPCA’s collective licensing arrangements are beneficial as they facilitate compliance with copyright law and provide an easy means for record companies and users to access a range of sound recordings. Licensors under the PPCA’s collective licensing arrangements include the four major record companies in Australia—Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner.
PPCA’s collective licensing arrangements have been reauthorised until the 31 March 2011.
For further information please visit the ACCC website.
On 21 September 2007 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a discussion paper to allow stakeholders to comment on the access regime that will apply to digital radio.
Digital radio services will commence in state capital cities by 1 January 2009. The Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA) is responsible for managing and allocating the nine apparatus licences. It is anticipated that the licences will be allocated to joint venture companies who will be responsible for managing the digital radio transmission equipment in each licence area.
The licensee will be required to lodge an access undertaking with the ACCC which specifies the manner that transmission capacity will be provided to individual digital radio broadcasters in each licence area.
The ACCC has the following responsibilities in regards to the undertakings:
- assessing the undertakings
- determining procedural rules and decision making criteria in the assessment process, and
- continued supervision of access regime including implementing variations.
Further information and access to the discussion paper is available on the ACCC website.
On 28 September 2007, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued the 16th imputation testing and non-price terms and conditions report pursuant to the enhanced accounting separation regime for Telstra.
The purpose of the separation regime is to ensure that competition is maintained by monitoring the level of vertical integration between Telstra’s wholesale and retail services. The report aims to ensure that sufficient margins are maintained to enable efficient firms to compete against Telstra within the retail market.
The report includes an imputation analysis comparing the retail price charged by Telstra with three core telecommunications access services—the local carriage service, the public switched telephone network (PSTN) originating and terminating access service, and the unconditioned local loop services.
For the quarter ending 30 June 2007 the report found that overall imputed margins had tightened, however remained higher than the June 2006 quarter. In addition, there was no indication of material discrimination against wholesale customers.
Further information and access to the accounting separation reports is available on theACCC website.
On 25 September 2007 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) accepted an enforceable undertaking from the licensee of commercial radio service 2UE Sydney, Radio 2UE Sydney Pty Ltd, following its finding that 2UE breached the Commercial Radio Disclosure Standard and the Commercial Radio Compliance Program Standard (standard).
The breaches occurred during August 2006 on The John Laws Morning Show, when Mr Laws mentioned Telstra, one of his sponsors, without any disclosure announcement. It was found that the licensee breached the standard by failing to adequately formulate, implement and maintain important parts of the program so as to ensure compliance with the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, the program standards and the commercial radio codes of practice.
ACMA has accepted an enforceable undertaking which will be externally audited every six months in addition to the licensee’s compliance with the standard. Further, the licensee is required to monitor each broadcast of The John Laws Morning Show to ensure that required disclosure announcements are made.
ACMA can apply to the Federal Court to enforce the licensee to comply with the undertaking.
For further information please visit the ACMA website.
On 17 October 2007 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that it is proposing variations to the Telecommunications Numbering Plan 1997. The proposed variations would change the way that new prefixes for numbers in geographic areas are rolled out.
The proposal includes identifying all the new prefixes likely to be required in the next 10 years. In addition, it proposes to provide a trigger that would only make the new prefixes available when there are no existing numbers available to meet the applicant’s request.
ACMA would conduct public education campaigns to notify the public when the new numbers are first issued in an area.
To view the draft discussion paper and the variation to the number plan, please visit the ACMA website.
On the 21 September 2007, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) released the Telecommunications Today Report (report) on consumer attitudes towards the use of telecommunications services in Australia. The report indicated that Australians on the whole are well connected and have a high dependence on telecommunications services. Findings revealed nearly 90 per cent of Australians have both fixed and mobile phones and 80 per cent have access to the internet, predominately through broadband.
The report shows that attitudes and usage of telecommunications services are largely shaped by socioeconomic factors. Age and having children were significant factors in determining attitudes towards the uptake of mobile phones and broadband internet.
Older respondents are more likely to rely on their landline telephone and less likely to have an internet connection or a mobile phone. In addition, the research indicates that consumers are generally aware of new and emerging technologies.
In the coming months additional research reports will be published with further analysis on issues presented in the report.
For further information please visit the ACMA website.
The Australian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) has launched the National Information and Communication Industry (ICT) Contracting Framework (framework).
The main lobby group for the ICT, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), has praised the framework on the basis that it will bring a greater level of consistency to standard contractual issues and will reduce the cost and time involved in doing business with governments around Australia.
According to the APPC the benefits of a nationally consistent contractual framework include:
- reduction in the need for ICT suppliers to familiarise themselves with different frameworks in each government jurisdictions
- reduction in the risk associated with ICT procurements
- better ICT purchasing outcomes
- increased scope for government jurisdictions to adopt similar approaches to particular contractual issues, and
- increased scope for government jurisdictions to share contract clauses and guidance materials.
Currently the participating jurisdictions are the Australian Government, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. These jurisdictions are expected to gradually transfer their existing ICT model or standard contracts into the framework and new standard contracts will be prepared under the framework.
For further information please visit the AIIA website or to view the framework, please visit the APCC website.
On 3 October 2007 the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, announced that eight additional broadband providers had been approved under the $163 million Australian Broadband Guarantee.
The program offers subsidies of up to $2750 for each premises that cannot currently access a metro-comparable broadband service. Providers seeking to supply the program are committed to offering affordable broadband to households, small businesses and indigenous community councils around the country.
Senator Coonan has stated that there are currently 14 applicants for registration under the guarantee that have been approved to participate in the program. Seven of these applicants have finalised the registration process and entered into funding agreements with the government:
- Australian Private Networks
- Elders
- HabourIT
- Internode
- Westnet
- Westvic Broadband, and Wideband Networks.
To fully offer subsidised services applicants must execute funding deeds with the government. These applicants are:
- Amcom
- Broadband Wireless
- Mcpherson Media
- Ocean Broadband
- Optus
- Skymesh, and
- Telstra.
Senator Coonan has stated that the funding deed must be fully executed for the provider to participate in the program.
For further information please visit the Department for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts website.
On 18 October 2007 the Australian Tax Office (ATO) opened a tender for an information and communications technology outsourcing panel that will provide advice on the $1 billion outsourcing program.
The ATO plans to place the ICT infrastructure and services on the market in three stages over the next couple of years, offering over $1 billion worth of contracts. The ATO has identified these as:
- managed network services covering voice and data networks
- end user computing including the desktop, all end user devices and level one help desk and service management, and
- centralised computing including midrange, mainframe and data storage.
The first stage issued will be the managed network services. Currently the prime contractor for the ATO’s managed network services is EDS.
It is expected that a supplier will be chosen by the end of next year, with transition to the new contractor occurring between November 2008 and January 2009. The ATO has not determined the duration of the outsourcing contracts, however the $1 billion cost estimate for the re-tendering covers approximately five years of business.
Tenders for the advisory panel closed on 12 November 2007 and it is likely that the first outsourcing request for expression of interest will be issued early 2008.
For further information please visit the Australian website.
On 16 October 2007 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts urged more than forty Australian providers of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to find technical solutions to enable all VoIP users access to the triple zero emergency call number.
Currently there is limited or no connectivity to the triple zero emergency number and calling line identification information is unreliable. ACMA has indicated that while technical solutions are being developed there should be greater consumer awareness of these limitations to VoIP services.
For further information please visit the ACMA website.
More information
For information regarding possible implications for your business, contact a member of the Technology & Communications team.