ACCC: Optus Mobile's price terms and conditions unreasonable

Optus Mobile and Optus Network’s claim that 12c per minute was a reasonable price for the supply of the Mobile Terminating Access Service Pricing Principle, has been rejected by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

According to the ACCC it rejected the Optus 2007 undertaking because it cannot be satisfied that the price terms and conditions are reasonable.

ACCC Commissioner, Ed Willett, said: "The Tribunal has placed a clear obligation on providers to establish that their costs are efficient costs and Optus has not provided evidence to support the price in its undertaking."

Instead the commission has determined the MTAS Pricing Principle, which expired on the 30 June, to be 9 cents per minute, as of 1 July 2007 to 31 December 2008.

The Trade Practices Act 1974 requires the ACCC to have regard to a pricing principles determination if the ACCC is required to arbitrate a MTAS access dispute.

The indicative prices have been informed by the WIK Model, international cost benchmarks and other cost models.

Any future pricing determinations will consider a range of factors as set out in the supporting documentation and will continue to consider efficiently incurred costs of MNOs with reference to actual costs consistent with the Australian Competition Tribunal's position.