The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) annual report on Telstra’s compliance with its Structural Separation Undertaking (SSU) has demonstrated Telstra to be relatively compliant with its commitments 2013-14, yet unable to meet its obligations on a number of occasions.
The relevant SSU obligations are in place to safeguard competition until the roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) is complete and Telstra fixed-line customers have been migrated.
Telstra has made significant progress towards addressing issues that came to light following the commencement of the SSU.
In this regard, Telstra has recently advised that it has now completed a project to remediate its systems and processes to better safeguard against the disclosure of protected wholesale customer information.
The ACCC’s response to the SSU breaches has been to work with Telstra to focus upon stopping the conduct, reducing its effect, and ensuring steps are taken to prevent recurrence.
The ACCC has also encouraged Telstra to keep its wholesale customers informed of SSU equivalence and migration issues as they arise.
“The SSU is working to address the long standing competition concerns stemming from Telstra’s vertical integration by promoting a high level of compliance with Telstra’s equivalence obligations and remedying any shortcomings as they are brought to light,” ACCC Commissioner, Cristina Cifuentes said.
