Hello everyone.
This is a PSA of sorts for anyone interested living in a Telstra Velocity estate. You'd be getting maximum speeds of either 30/1 or 100/5 and paying through the nose to Telstra or one of the few other providers that service these areas…
On 8 April, Telstra asked the Minister for Communications to extend some exemptions from the default requirements for its South Brisbane and Velocity fibre networks.
Background:
The government gave Telstra some exemptions from laws designed to provide a competitive environment for Retail Service Providers as Telstra had only just made its rollout of the South Brisbane network and it would cause them commercial harm. Not sure how this ties in with the other Velocity estates around the place, but essentially, since 2012, Telstra has continually been granted extensions to these temporary exemptions. The idea on some level was probably that nbn would acquire Telstra's FTTP networks, but these talks broke down in 2015 and since then nbn has shown no commercial or political desire to overbuild or acquire these networks.
While this impasse is certainly not disadvantageous for Telstra and nbn, consumers have been paying the price. Research by ACCAN found that over the 5 years leading to 2019, consumers in the South Brisbane area paid $900 to $1200 more for their services compared to plans available on the nbn.
The ACCC, ACCAN and the Federal Government all agree that the level of competition is currently not sufficient and has led to comparatively worse outcomes for end users. The government said in its most recent extension in 2018 that "The Government is disappointed by continued weak competition in South Brisbane and comparatively poor outcomes for end-users to those in NBN-serviced areas. Maintenance of the status quo is not a long-term viable option. The Government continues to view the exemptions as temporary".
Over time the divergence between nbn services in terms of price and non-price factors has increased. Price - for low income consumers, on the nbn you can get services for as little as $30/month. The cheapest in South Brisbane is $75/month. Non-price - as we all know nbn is launching 1000/50 services which are being offered on FTTP and HFC for $149/month or even less if you are in a Launtel area. Meanwhile, for $110 the best you can get on Velocity is 100/5 Mbps.
If you would like to see the end of this exemption on 1 July 2020 as scheduled, make a formal submission to the government by following the link before 5 June 2020: https://www.communications.gov.au/have-your-say/consultation…
You don't have to be a resident in these areas to make a submission, so if you have the time I encourage you to make a submission even if it doesn't affect you directly.
While ending the exemption will not magically provide faster or cheaper service, it will force Telstra to make structural changes and upgrades to its back-end systems that will, according to the ACCC, generate an environment conducive to greater competition on price and non-price terms.
In your submission feel free to use any of the things I've mentioned in this post, or feel free to ask me for more ideas of what you can say. Your best bet is to remain factual and concise in your submission.
Thanks for reading!
Is there a similar approach to all of the other estates that lock in opticomm and such for internet?
Would you also extend the same thought to buildings which are locked into certain power and gas providers?
This isn't just a Telstra thing!