The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) supports the ongoing regulation of Telstra’s wholesale ADSL service. At the very least, the service regulation will last until the 30th of June, 2024.

This aligns the group with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in their proposal, including consultation on whether the commission should extend its oversight of the wholesale service from its current expiry of mid-February 2022.

The ACCAN backs the proposal of the ACCC because this would align the expiry of the wholesale ADSL declaration with the other declared fixed-line services of Telstra.

The ACCC should hold a public inquiry when it comes to the extension, revocation, varying, allowing it to expire, as well as changing the WADSL service declaration before its set expiration in the mid of February 2022. This falls under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

ACCAN addresses the ACCC inquiry stating that “ACCAN is particularly keen for the services to remain declared in areas where consumers don’t have another alternative high speed or superfast broadband service that would provide an equivalent or better service than ADSL, such as areas outside of NBN’s fixed-line footprint, particularly those designated for NBN SkyMuster.”

ACCAN further stated that: “Without the declaration, Telstra has the ability and incentive to raise prices, limit access and/or reduce quality for access seeker’s customers. Continuing the declaration would provide certainty for consumers who continue to use the service.”

The group recently conducted an online consumer survey. Through it, they were able to find a disinclination among ADSL users to switch to either NBN’s satellite or fixed wireless services. The most popular reasons for the users who participated in the survey include the perceived lack of reliability of the NBN, cost, and latency.

According to the ACCAN, the extension of the regulation of the wholesale ADSL service until 2024 “would allow for a more holistic approach to the consideration of whether wholesale access to Telstra’s legacy fixed-line services should continue after the NBN migration is complete.”

“Once the migration is complete, there needs to be consideration of what options there are for consumers outside NBN’s fixed-line network who do not view wireless, and particularly satellite services, as an appropriate substitute.”