Displaying items by tag: The ACCC

As predicted the ACCC's consultation and the outcome of the NBN Co SAU variation has been dragged out until after the election.

Commpete, an alliance of Australian challenger telecommunication companies, has welcomed the announcement of an ACCC inquiry into telecommunications competition issues as part of the Government’s response to the 2021 Regional Telecommunications Independent Committee Report.

The Australian Government has directed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to conduct a public inquiry into access to regional mobile towers and into the feasibility of providing mobile roaming during natural disasters or other emergencies.

Competition lawyer Gina Cass-Gottlieb has commenced her term as Chair of the ACCC.

NBN fixed wireless download speeds have improved significantly over the past year, the ACCC’s latest Measuring Broadband Australia (MBA) quarterly report shows. Speeds in December 2021 were 93.4% of plan speed during all hours and 79.8% of plan speed during the busy hours of 7-11pm.

The development of new upfront rules that force dominant digital platforms to treat their users fairly is the important next step in reforming Australia’s consumer protection laws, says ACCC chair Rod Sims.

Four government agencies have formed a new body the Digital Platform Regulators Forum (DP-REG) to promote greater cooperation and information-sharing in the regulation of digital platforms in Australia.

Almost 8.6 million residential broadband services are now on the NBN and 58% are on high speed services of 50 Mbps, with an additional 15% of customers on speeds of over 50 Mbps, the ACCC’s latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report reveals.

Telstra has paid an infringement notice of $2.53 million after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found large-scale breaches of rules intended to protect the privacy and safety of customers.

Australians are paying more for their broadband and mobile phone services than they were a year ago but are receiving faster NBN speeds and more data allowances in their mobile plans in return, the ACCC’s 2020-21 Communications Market Report shows.

Australia’s three mobile network operators, Telstra, Singtel Optus and TPG Telecom made significant investments in mobile infrastructure between January 2018 and January 2021, but the focus has moved to 5G deployment predominantly in the major cities.

More than 8.5 million residential broadband services are now on the NBN, and over 75% of them are on high speed services of at least 50 Mbps, the ACCC’s latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report reveals.

The ACCC reported that about 400,000 residential broadband customers moved to higher speed plans in the June 2021 quarter as the recent trend of Australian consumers upgrading to faster NBN connections continued, as indicated its latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report.

New rules and regulations may be needed in addition to enforcement action by competition regulators worldwide to rectify concerns about the dominance of Apple and Google in app marketplaces, ACCC chair Rod Sims said.

The ACCC is examining competition and consumer concerns with general online retail marketplaces such as eBay Australia, Amazon Australia, Kogan and Catch.com.au as part of its inquiry into digital platform services in Australia.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found Telstra failed to suitably notify almost 50,000 customers that the maximum speeds advertised in their internet plan were not attainable with the NBN infrastructure available to them.

This week, we had the ACCC issue a report on increasing mobile pricing by the three major mobile network operators (MNOs), Telstra, Vodafone and Optus. In reporting this, they assigned the blame at the court for overturning the ACCC's banning the of the merger of TPG and Vodafone. The're wrong - see why!