Internode & iiNet vs Telstra (The big price squeeze) ACCC etc

[Kym]

Many ISPs are offering big new deals, but it is not all as it seems.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...?t=1528475&p=1

In summary:

• Telstra (Bigpond) are selling ADSL services retail at a price lower than the wholesale cost to the industry in contravention of the trade practices act.
• Telstra’s anti-competitive methods are described as including:
  
  1. Untenably high wholesale transmission pricing.
  2. Capped exchanges.
  3. Delays for approval to access exchanges to install DSLAMs.
  4. The lack of an LSS to ULLS migration process.
  5. Telstra BigPond’s refusal to join the Telstra LSS Churn process.
  6. RIM and pair gain constraints.
  7. Telstra not meeting connection appointments.
  8. Truck rolls for IULL vs VULL connections rather than reusing existing pairs still jumpered from previous services.
  9. Telstra’s use of the court system, the access dispute process and the ACCC’s undertaking process to create fear, uncertainty and delay.

http://www.zdnet.com.au/telstra-pric...-339304519.htm

Bottom line Telstra are having to face up to the ACCC again, and Internode and iiNet are leading the charge.

All I can say is bring on the NBN!

In the mean time check with your ISP about plan changes because you can get a lot more for the same or less money!
(I just went from 50GB/M to 150GB/M for the same price)

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day Kym

I'm not a comms 'groupie' so some of what you refer to goes over my head, However as I am a wireless modem user, I do [occasionally] look at offerings & prices

Got a glossy advert page stuck in the paper the other day, showing USB wireless modem costs & monthly allowances

For $30, Optus & Virgin & Vodafone & Dodo were offering 2GB [2000 megabytes for the non-mathematical AP people]
For the same $30, Telstra were offering 225megabytes

For 'small-usage' persons, Telstra is also offering a "6-month usage plan" which gives the small-time user 4GB of traffic for the extremely generous amount of $150

Q.E.D
Regards, Phil

[arthurking83]

....

All I can say is bring on the NBN!

.....

[Kym]

I'm not a comms 'groupie' so some of what you refer to goes over my head, However as I am a wireless modem user, I do [occasionally] look at offerings & prices

This is a specific issue re: non-wireless services. T$ are using their monopoly of exchanges and copper in the ground - in contravention to the deal they got when privatised.

[joele]

This is why you don't privatise infrastructure... Happy to be called a socialist ;-), but anti-competitive monopolistic environments are the end point of Infrastructure privatisation..

[dieselpower]

I'm hoping for an outcome with this very soon. My 30GB/month (a legacy internode plan that I haven't changed off since the data allowance dropped!) off a Telstra ADSL2+ port isn't cutting it. I need more data allowance!

[Kym]

This is why you don't privatise infrastructure... Happy to be called a socialist ;-), but anti-competitive monopolistic environments are the end point of Infrastructure privatisation..

I agree that certain things need to be done by the Govt due to our population density/geography
- Water
- Energy
- Communications
- Health
etc.

That does not mean there is not room for the private sector, but with such overwhelming power (i.e. owning the exchanges and wires) T$ have legal constraints and obligations; but they are cheating crooks not honouring those obligations.

[Cheach]

Interesting article http://www.zdnet.com.au/isps-prep-fo...-339306765.htm


<snip>
"The real problem is not DSL, it is an ACCC pricing approach which advantages competitors serving city customers over those in rural Australia."

"Our competitors can provide their customers with broadband using a range of services from us or other providers, including using Line Sharing Service from Telstra Wholesale for $2.50 a month — if you look at retail price levels, healthy margins are available."

Yet even if Telstra does provide cheap wholesale in many areas, Internode and iiNet said that there were competition blackspots, for example, in areas where Telstra has remote integrated multiplexers (RIMs) or Velocity fibre to the home.

Internode and iiNet plan to submit additional information to the ACCC on the matter.

For its part, the ACCC is keeping its options open, and is quick to not prejudge the inquiry decision. Michael Cosgrave, who signed the ACCC inquiry letter to industry, said the regulator is considering taking Telstra's power to determine the terms and conditions for wholesale access.

A possible competition breach of the Trade Practices Act is also on the table.

"There may be concerns, not clear, on the basis of the information we have. We don't comment on ongoing investigations into breaches of the Act, [but] one of the reasons we have written the letter is to say there are a number of ways to look at these concerns," Cosgrave said.

On the flip-side, Larry Kestelman, chief executive of discount telco Dodo, said that the complaints are simply cheap shots by Telstra's competitors that don't want to shell out for infrastructure in areas that aren't terribly profitable.

"Dodo Australia is not supporting the recent complaints our competitors have made," Kestelman said.

"It is clear some of our competitors have been cherry picking and rolling out their networks based on costs as little as $2.50 per line. If it is only in areas where there is no option to build, then it's something worth looking into, [but] I feel what our competitors are asking of the ACCC is unreasonable."
</snip>

[Kym]

@Cheach - now that comment form Dodo is patently pro T$
Lets not FACTS get in the way of a good story. 'node, for example, invest in rural infrastructure *proportionally* more then T$.
Dodo do not invest in any significant infrastructure and are totally in bed with T$ which is why it is suspected they get preferential pricing.

The real issue is Australia cannot afford multiple infrastructures, we need one shared basic comms service with multiple retail offerings sold from that.
I am no communist, but monopolies are very unhealthy in a free market.
The answer is called Structural Separation.

[brindyman]

i went from 90gb a month to 400gb a month and i dont have to pay an extra cent too my ISP (iinet)

the new plan includes upload but checking last months stats i only uploaded 6gb so not too much of a dent on the quota