New Telstra CEO Andrew Penn on Tuesday said he is considering appealing the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s decision last week to order a 9.4% cut in the telco’s wholesale access prices.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Penn said during his inaugural AGM speech that the move will wipe €51.3 million off Telstra’s EBITDA by mid-2016.
“Investors in infrastructure need…a regulatory framework where their costs are able to be recovered – otherwise investment in important infrastructure is unlikely to be made,” he said, in the report.
The ACCC on Friday ordered a one-off 9.4% reduction in Telstra’s wholesale copper access prices, even though the operator had requested permission to raise them.
Explaining its decision, the watchdog said the upward pressure on pricing – the shrinking customer base caused by the migration of consumers from Telstra’s legacy network to NBN, and fixed-mobile substitution – was more than offset by the downward pressure coming from lower expenditure and the falling cost of capital
“Users of Telstra’s network should not pay the higher costs that result from fewer customers as NBN migration occurs,” said ACCC chairman Rob Sims, in a statement on Friday.
The decision to settle on a 9.4% price cut is slightly less than the 9.6% cut the regulator proposed in June.
Full content: Herald Sun
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Uruguayan Antitrust Scrutiny Puts Major Meatpacking Deal Between Marfrig and Minerva on Hold
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Alaska Airlines Seeks Dismissal of Consumer Lawsuit Over $1.9 Billion Hawaiian Airlines Buy
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Idaho Attorney General Orders Split of Kootenai Health and Syringa Hospital
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Court Rejects T-Mobile’s Appeal Bid in Antitrust Case Over Sprint Merger
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Google Requests Judge, Not Jury, to Decide on Antitrust Case
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Mapping Antitrust onto Digital Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystems and Competition Law: A Law and Political Economy Approach
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystem Theories of Harm: What is Beyond the Buzzword?
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Open Ecosystems: Benefits, Challenges, and Implications for Antitrust
May 9, 2024 by
CPI