ACCAN’S Submission to the ACCC on Voice interconnection Services Access Determination Inquiry

ACCAN recently made a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on their public inquiry to extend the declaration of mobile terminating access service and fixed originating access service. These interconnection services are crucial as they ensure that consumers can make calls seamlessly and affordably between different networks, safeguarding access to basic phone services.

This submission recommends the ACCC:

1. We support the ACCC’s approach to establishing a cost-based model which treats wholesale and retail costs separately.

2. We support the use of the proposed economic depreciation method.

3. We recommend that assumptions on spectrum input costs are modelled consistently with the ACMA’s decision on spectrum licence expiring between 2028 and 2032, noting that it is critical that spectrum input costs are not overstated.

4. We recommend that steps are taken to ensure that mobile network expansion caps assumptions are not overstated, given likely shifts to Earth Orbit satellite (LEOSat) and terrestrial mobile network technologies.

5. We recommend that the proposed model is developed to ensure that it can adapt to market changes from the increasing emergence of LEOSat technologies and the government’s Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation, once reliable information becomes available.