AUSTRALIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGIME

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AUSTRALIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGIME
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Underlying philosophy of Australian
telecommunication regulation

• - open competition
• - technological neutrality
• - independent regulatory bodies
• Australian Communications and Media Authority
• Australian Competition and Consumer
  Commission
• - self regulation
• Australian Communications Industry Forum

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INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR REGULATION OF
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, BROADCASTING AND ONLINE
SERVICES
MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS Senator the Hon Helen
Coonan
Content Carriage
POLICY ADVICE
Department of Communications, Information
Technology and the Arts
INDUSTRY BODIES WITH CO-REGULATORY FUNCTIONS
INDUSTRY BODIES WITH CO-REGULATORY FUNCTIONS
Free TV Australia(Commercial Television
Industry Body)
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO)
GOVERNMENT REGULATORS
Australian Communications and Media Authority
(ACMA)
Commercial Radio Australia (CRA)
Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF)
Australian Subscription TV and Radio
Association (ASTRA)
Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC)
NET ALERT(Government owned Internet Community
Advisory Body)
Community Broadcasting Association of Australia
(CBAA)
OPERATORS

• Carriers
• Telephone Service Providers
• Internet Service Providers
• Broadcast Transmission
• Providers

• National Broadcasters
• Commercial Broadcasters
• Community Broadcasters
• Subscription Broadcasters
• Narrowcasters

Internet Industry Association (IIA)
USERS
Industry User Groups
Consumer Groups
Regulation
Accountability
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Government Strategy for Telecommunications

• There are four levers of Government Policy
• Encouraging open and competitive markets.
• Provision of a comprehensive set of regulatory
  protections for consumers.
• Targeted funding to support sustainable
  improvements in services, particularly in rural
  and regional areas.
• Government leadership in relation to policy
  development and facilitating industry
  coordination.

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PROMOTING COMPETITION

• Access and competition regulation
• Competition regime part of a broader framework
  established by Trade Practices Act 1974.
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
  (ACCC) has responsibility for administering
  competition regime.
• Competition in the interests of efficiency and
  diversity in the long-term interests of
  end-users.
• Industry-specific access and anti-competitive
  conduct provisions are implemented in Part XIB
  and XIC of the Trade Practices Act.

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PROMOTING COMPETITION

• Recent legislative measures
• The Australian Government recently introduced a
  suite of reforms to the telecommunications
  regulatory framework
• Operational separation of Telstras retail,
  wholesale and network business units to provide
  greater clarity for industry and for the
  regulator.
• Changes to the Trade Practices Act to require the
  ACCC to take account of the costs and risks of
  investment when making access decisions.
• Changes to the Telecommunications Act to further
  promote investment certainty.

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REGULATORY PROTECTION

• Standards setting
• The Australian Communications and Media Authority
  (ACMA) is responsible for regulating
  telecommunications and radiocommunications
• ACMA also has consumer responsibilities
• ACMA facilitates access to radiofrequency
  spectrum through licensing, managing interference
  and industry compliance

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REGULATORY PROTECTION

• Self Regulation (ACIF)
• Industry regulation through development of
  voluntary industry codes of practice and
  technical standards
• Australian Communications Industry Forum an
  industry-owned, resourced and operated company
  established to implement and manage
  self-regulation

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REGULATORY PROTECTION

• CONSUMER PROTECTION
• Universal Service Obligation
• Customer Service Guarantee
• National Reliability Framework
• Priority Assistance measures
• Telstra price controls

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REGULATORY PROTECTION

• Dispute resolution (TIO)
• The TIO is an independent non-government source
  of dispute resolution for residential and small
  business consumers of telecommunications services
• The TIO is an industry-funded scheme, independent
  of telecommunications companies, consumer groups
  and government

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Targeted Funding

• The Regional Telecommunications Inquiry (RTI)
  identified that consumers telecommunication
  needs are complex and that universal measures do
  not always adequately serve consumers. The RTI
  recommended targeted funding as the ideal model
  to create sustainable improvements in services,
  particularly in rural and regional areas.
• Telecommunications services in regional, rural
  and remote Australia, now and into the future,
  will be supported through funding from the newly
  established 1.1 billion Connect Australia
  programs and the 2 billion Communications Fund.

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TELSTRA PRIVATISATION

• Australian Government policy is to fully
  privatise Telstra.
• On 15 September 2005, the Parliament passed
  legislation to allow the Commonwealth to sell its
  remaining equity in Telstra.
• The legislation does not determine a possible
  time for a sale.
• The Government has indicated it will make a
  decision early next year about the timing of a
  possible sale.