Wednesday, 09 October 2019 11:35

ACCC warns NBN Co over playing favourites with RSPs Featured

By
ACCC warns NBN Co over playing favourites with RSPs Image by rickey123 from Pixabay

The Australian competition watchdog has warned NBN Co, the company rolling out broadband in the country, about discriminating between retail service providers when it comes to supplying upgraded infrastructure to business customers.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said NBN Co had accepted a court-enforceable undertaking, which included a pledge not to indulge in such activity again.

The ACCC said from at least January 2018, NBN Co had offered differing commercial terms to different RSPs as upgrades were being made to support business-grade services.

Additionally, the watchdog said, one RSP had been given indicative pricing information for the new Enterprise Ethernet service, months before other RSPs were provided the same information.

NBN Co admitted to the ACCC that it had no processes in place to ensure it was meeting its transparency and non-discrimination obligations.

“The ACCC has concluded that NBN Co failed to comply with its non-discrimination obligations on a number of fronts,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said.

“These legal obligations were enacted to ensure that NBN Co does not distort competition in the market for retail NBN services, such as by favouring larger RSPs.”

Sims said that the ACCC had not found evidence to show that NBN Co's conduct caused harm.

“Market feedback suggests that NBN Co’s entry into the wholesale enterprise market has increased competition, particularly in areas where Telstra is the only other fixed-line infrastructure provider,” he said.

“Despite this, the ACCC is satisfied that NBN Co’s conduct amounted to a serious breach of its non-discrimination obligations. The undertaking we have accepted from NBN Co is intended to ensure that all access seekers can compete on an equal footing going forward.”

Reacting to the ACCC's statement, an NBN Co spokesperson said in an unsolicited comment: NBN Co welcomes the clarity and certainty provided by the undertaking agreed with the ACCC. The undertaking helps give certainty to both NBN Co and the market about the way we build our network and how Australian businesses can benefit.

"Providing competitive offerings to help meet the needs of business has always been part of NBN Co's intent. The outcomes that we have agreed with the ACCC provide a transparent platform which confirms NBN Co's crucial role in the business segment. In fact, we're now even better placed to deliver value for the industry and for business customers.

"For a maturing business, this has been a very valuable process, to work constructively with the regulator to firm up processes that not only help ensure compliance but provide simplicity, flexibility and better access to commercial arrangements for the benefit of industry and the business market.

"Many of these improved processes are now in place and communicated to our retail partners, and we look forward to implementing the remaining few obligations as outlined in the undertaking and working together with the industry to provide great customer experience to businesses.

"We take our regulatory obligations very seriously, which we will back up with processes that give our team the tools they need to meet and exceed our customers' expectations. We look forward to maintaining a co-operative and constructive dialogue with the ACCC."

Read 1911 times

Please join our community here and become a VIP.

Subscribe to ITWIRE UPDATE Newsletter here
JOIN our iTWireTV our YouTube Community here
BACK TO LATEST NEWS here




ELASTICON SYDNEY 2024 LATEST ADVANCEMENTS IN GENERATIVE AI

On 20 February, keynote addresses from NAB, Canva, AWS, and Google Cloud, among others, will feature at ElasticON Sydney 2024.

This event will explore the latest advancements in generative AI

The one-day conference, hosted by leading search analytics company Elastic, will include networking drinks, hands-on labs, technical sessions and a stellar line-up of keynote speakers from finance, technology, and government e=sectors.

ElasticON Sydney 2024 promises to be an enriching experience with a comprehensive exploration of the latest developments in security, observability, generative AI and their real world applications

Don't miss out on this opportunity to network and find answers for what's next from your industry peers and leaders


Register for ElasticON Sydney 2024

REGISTER HERE!

PROMOTE YOUR WEBINAR ON ITWIRE

It's all about Webinars.

Marketing budgets are now focused on Webinars combined with Lead Generation.

If you wish to promote a Webinar we recommend at least a 3 to 4 week campaign prior to your event.

The iTWire campaign will include extensive adverts on our News Site itwire.com and prominent Newsletter promotion https://itwire.com/itwire-update.html and Promotional News & Editorial. Plus a video interview of the key speaker on iTWire TV https://www.youtube.com/c/iTWireTV/videos which will be used in Promotional Posts on the iTWire Home Page.

Now we are coming out of Lockdown iTWire will be focussed to assisting with your webinars and campaigns and assistance via part payments and extended terms, a Webinar Business Booster Pack and other supportive programs. We can also create your adverts and written content plus coordinate your video interview.

We look forward to discussing your campaign goals with you. Please click the button below.

MORE INFO HERE!

BACK TO HOME PAGE
Sam Varghese

Sam Varghese has been writing for iTWire since 2006, a year after the site came into existence. For nearly a decade thereafter, he wrote mostly about free and open source software, based on his own use of this genre of software. Since May 2016, he has been writing across many areas of technology. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years in India (Indian Express and Deccan Herald), the UAE (Khaleej Times) and Australia (Daily Commercial News (now defunct) and The Age). His personal blog is titled Irregular Expression.

Share News tips for the iTWire Journalists? Your tip will be anonymous

Subscribe to Newsletter

*  Enter the security code shown:

WEBINARS & EVENTS

CYBERSECURITY

PEOPLE MOVES

GUEST ARTICLES

Guest Opinion

ITWIRETV & INTERVIEWS

RESEARCH & CASE STUDIES

Channel News

Comments