Consultation on remaking of the Telstra Carrier Licence Conditions

The Australian Government is seeking comments on the remaking of the Carrier Licence Conditions (Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1997. The Regulations are due to sunset on 1 April 2019.

The Telecommunications Act 1997 provides for the Minister to declare that a particular carrier is subject to specified licence conditions. The Carrier Licence Conditions (Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1997 has been amended several times since it was first made, and includes obligations on Telstra relating to, among other things:

• establish and maintain the Integrated Public Number Database
• disclose specified premises location information to NBN Co Limited (NBN Co)
• establish and comply with the Priority Assistance arrangments
• establish and comply with the Network Reliability Framework and low-income measures
• provide directory and operator services.

We propose that the regulations are remade in broadly the same form as they exist currently. The instrument has been redrafted to remove redundant provisions, provide clarity, and update terminology and the drafting style to reflect current conventions.

Specific redundant provisions that have been removed include:

• the local presence obligation, which has been made redundant by Telstra Universal Obligation Performance Agreement, which requires Telstra to maintain its copper network in areas outside the National Broadband Network fixed-line footprint until 2032
• provision of mobile coverage in selected population centres and highways, which applied for the first ten years after the services were activated and are now redundant, and
• obligations to develop a Priority Assistance policy, which have long since been fulfilled.

We seek your feedback on whether the Regulations should be remade, and whether the redraft of the Regulations are helpful in providing further clarity regarding rules and procedures.

Your Submission

Please include:

• contact name
• organisation name, if applicable
• contact details, including telephone number, postal and email addresses
• confirmation whether or not your submission can be made public—published—or kept confidential.

Please email your completed submission to competitionpolicy@communications.gov.au or send it to:

Infrastructure and Access

Department of Communications and the Arts

GPO Box 2154

Canberra ACT 2601

Relevant Documentation

Exposure draft of Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Conditions—Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 2019

Published 7th Feb 2019

Download PDF (314.77 KB) Download DOC (127.27 KB)

This draft instrument is the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Conditions—Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 2019. This document does not meet WCAG 2.0 requirements. For an accessible version please email competitionpolicy@communications.gov.au.

Carrier Licence Conditions (Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1997

Published 7th Feb 2019

Download PDF (581.42 KB) Download DOC (148.55 KB)

Compilation number 12. This is a compilation of the Carrier Licence Conditions (Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1997 that shows the text of the law as amended and in force on 19 June 2018 (the compilation date).

Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Conditions—Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 2019—comparison

Published 7th Feb 2019

Download PDF (567.64 KB) Download DOC (220.8 KB)

This is a comparative document that shows the proposed changes to the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Conditions—Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1999 that would be made by the draft Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Conditions—Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 2019. This document does not meet WCAG 2.0 requirements. For an accessible version please email competitionpolicy@communications.gov.au.