The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has announced that Telstra will provide an open access wholesale service on fibre networks it is currently deploying in South Brisbane and some new real estate projects.

 

Telstra will provide a wholesale broadband service, called the Fibre Access Broadband Service, to access seekers on request, on an open and equitable basis, and subject to oversight by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

 

“Provision of the wholesale service will support competition between service providers on these networks and offer greater choice for end-users,” said Senator Conroy.

 

“Importantly, the Telstra wholesale broadband service will still be subject to the ACCC’s scrutiny.”

 

Provision of the wholesale fibre service was a condition of the networks being exempted from certain regulatory arrangements under Parts 7 and 8 of the Telecommunications Act 1997.

 

Senator Conroy said that the arrangements were transitional, pending the rollout of the National Broadband Network and Telstra’s long-term structural separation and related to networks that Telstra had already been contracted to build before Parts 7 and 8 were enacted.

 

The Minister consulted with stakeholders directly affected and sought the views of the ACCC and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in considering this matter.

 

The arrangements will come into effect in April 2012.

 

Further information on the exemption instruments and explanatory notes is here.