ISPs stare down Telstra backhaul cost increase

Be happy

A rebound in regulated AGVC costs surprises industry.

Cosgrave expects debate on the draft price schedule to be robust once formal submissions close on April 5.

Most telcos and ISPs that iTnews spoke to indicated they would be making submissions on the draft prices.

Dalby remains concerned over Telstra's level of influence over the content of the ACCC draft report.

"We've been saying that it's as if Telstra had written the draft," he said.

"It's very much pro-Telstra, very dismissive of competition issues, very dismissive of consumer interests.

"It is just a very disappointing piece of work."

Telstra has made only brief comments on the contents of the draft, though it appeared content with the proposed prices.

"From our initial reading it appears the ACCC has largely retained the balance of charges across access and usage set out in the Interim Access Determination," a spokesperson told iTnews earlier this week.

The ACCC's Cosgrave puts the latest price changes into a broader context.

"Both the port and the AGVC charges are significantly lower than what we understand commercial wholesale prices were at the time the [interim] declaration was made in February 2012," he said.

"We made an interim [declaration] which was a quick rough-and-ready. We understand that commercial pricing came down substantially as a consequence of that IAD.

"I guess I'm making a point that [the new draft prices are] still, as we understand it, significantly lower than the commercial wholesale prices that were in place prior to declaration."