Competition law is critical so that companies can offer high quality of service at the lowest possible price. There are currently two sets of laws that cover competition in the telecommunications industry – one set is general, and the other telco industry specific. The Department of Communications and the Arts is looking at whether the industry specific rules are needed following the adoption of reforms proposed by the Harper Review in 2014.
ACCAN supports removing any overlap as long as this does not cause any detriment to consumers.
Our submission to the review of Part XIB of the Competition and Consumer Act has proposed keeping most existing laws about competition in the telecommunications sector. These laws include:
- keeping the rules about predatory pricing - predatory pricing is when a company with a large market share lowers its prices to such a low level that other companies stop selling the product because it is not feasible. Once there are less sellers in the marketplace, the larger company may raise its prices but now there is no competition to keep them in check.
- making sure providers understand that competition laws apply to content and other services that they provide, and not just a phone or internet service
- continuing to allow the ACCC to issue notices to carriers if the ACCC has reason to believe that the provider is behaving anti-competitively
- allowing providers to continue to offer low-cost telecommunications services to disadvantaged consumers without breaking competition laws
We believe keeping these laws intact is in the best interests of consumers while the market continues to develop greater competition.
