ACCAN provided a submission in January 2024 in response to a request from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to comment on NBN Co’s proposed Cost Allocation Manual (CAM).
The CAM sets out NBN Co’s proposed framework for the allocation of costs between ‘core’ monopoly services and competitive non-monopoly services. The attribution and allocation of costs has a profound effect on the wholesale prices ultimately faced by residential and small business consumers of monopoly core services.
Further, how costs are attributed and allocated to competitive non-monopoly services will have competitive and efficiency implications for companies competing with NBN Co in the delivery of these services.
The proposed CAM provides insufficient detail for ACCAN to have a transparent view of NBN Co’s cost allocations. Accordingly, ACCAN considers that further revision to the CAM is required to strengthen it and ensure that consumers only pay for the component of NBN costs that can be attributed to the delivery of the residential and small business services that they receive.
