Telstra price proposals shot down

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Monday rejected Telstra Corp.’s Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Originating and Terminating Access Services and Local Carriage Service price proposals.

The Australian watchdog said in a statement that Telstra’s proposals were not reasonable and would involve a substantial reduction in the headline LCS prices. It suggests the changes would bring about a substantial increase in fixed line, originating and terminating prices.

“Telstra’s proposed pricing approach for the PSTN OTA and the LCS would represent a fundamental rebalancing of the competitive dynamics in the fixed line services market, with a doubling of the headline rate for PSTN services,” ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said.

Samuel said Telstra’s proposal would significantly disadvantage facilities based access seekers, while providing an advantage to resellers of Telstra’s end-to-end local call services.