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Australia: Telstra gets blow as court backs ACCC ruling

By  |  March 28, 2017

Telstra is considering its options after the telco suffered a blow in its bid to overturn a ruling handed down by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that forces it to cut the access price on its copper network.

The telco, which was yesterday ordered to cover the ACCC’s costs of the legal action, had initially pushed for a 7.2 per cent lift in access prices in 2015, citing growing costs associated with the migration of customers from the copper network to the National Broadband Network.

With Telstra slated to collect $98 billion from Canberra to cover the cost of the migration, the telco’s rivals had accused the company of “double-dipping” and extracting even more value out of its copper.

The competition regulator subsequently not only rejected Telstra’s argument but also stipulated a one-off 9.4 per cent drop in access prices, covering a period from November 1, 2015, until June 30, 2019.

Telstra’s hopes for reprieve were dashed as Judge Lindsay Foster sided with the ACCC yesterday.

Full Content: It Wire

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