Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges) Determination (No. 1) 2021 (Cth)

Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges) Determination (No. 1) 2021

The Australian Communications and Media Authority makes the following determination under subsection 14(1) of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997.

Dated: 17 June 2021

Fiona Cameron

[signed]

Member

Creina Chapman

[signed]

Member/General Manager

Australian Communications and Media Authority

1  Name

This is the Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Annual Charges) Determination (No. 1) 2021.

2  Commencement

(1)   This instrument commences on the later of:

(a)  the start of the day after the day it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation; and

(b)  the commencement of the Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Specification of Costs by the ACMA) Determination (No. 1) 2021.

Note:    The Federal Register of Legislation may be accessed free of charge at However, this instrument does not commence at all unless both of the events mentioned in paragraphs (1)(a) and (b) occur.

3  Authority

This instrument is made under subsection 14(1) of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997.

4  Repeal of this instrument

This instrument is repealed at the start of 1 July 2022.

5  Application

This instrument applies to carrier licences that were in force at the beginning of the 2019-2020 financial year.

6  Definitions

In this instrument:

ACCC means the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Act means the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act 1997.

carrier licence means a carrier licence to which this Determination applies, as provided by section 5.

carrier licence charge means a charge within the meaning of Part 3 of the Act.

eligible revenue period has the same meaning as in the TCPSS Act.

exempt carrier licence means a carrier licence that was held by a carrier that was a non-participating person for the eligible revenue period that began on 1 July 2018 and ended on 30 June 2019.

MBA means the Measuring Broadband Australia program conducted by the ACCC to monitor and report on the performance of fixed line broadband services delivered over the National Broadband Network (NBN).

NBN fixed line connection means a fixed line broadband service delivered over the NBN fixed line network.

Note:  The NBN fixed line network is part of the NBN but does not include a fixed wireless network or satellite access network.

non-participating person has the same meaning as in the Telecommunications (Participating Persons) Determination 2015.

TCPSS Act means the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999.

test segment means a class of broadband service that is tested in accordance with specified conditions under the MBA.

   Note:    The following expressions used in this instrument are defined in the Act:

(a)    ACMA’s telecommunications functions;

(b)   ACMA’s telecommunications powers;

7 References to other instruments

In this instrument, unless the contrary intention appears:

(a)  a reference to any other legislative instrument is a reference to that other legislative instrument as in force from time to time; and

(b)  a reference to any other kind of instrument is a reference to that other instrument as in force at the commencement of this instrument. 

Note 1: For references to Commonwealth Acts, see section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901; and see also subsection 13(1) of the Legislation Act 2003 for the application of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 to legislative instruments.

Note 2:       All Commonwealth Acts and legislative instruments are registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

8  Carrier licence charge – exempt carrier licence

The amount of carrier licence charge imposed on an exempt carrier licence is $0.

9  Method of ascertaining carrier licence charge – other carrier licences

(1)     This section applies to a carrier licence that is not an exempt carrier licence.

(2)     The amount of carrier licence charge imposed on a carrier licence in relation to a carrier named in an item in Schedule 1 is equal to the sum of the amount ascertained using the formula in subsection (3) and the amount ascertained using the formula in subsection (4).

(3)     The amount for the purposes of this subsection is ascertained using the formula:

(MCA - OTC) ×	ER
	TER

where:

MCA (maximum charge amount, excluding costs relating to the MBA) is $28 048 214.

Note:This amount is the total sum of the amounts determined under subsection 15(1) of the Act, excluding the portion of the amount determined by the ACCC under paragraph 15(1)(b) of the Act that relates to the MBA.

OTC (other telecommunications costs) is $121 187.

Note:This amount relates to costs that:

(a)        are part of the proportion of the ACMA’s costs for the 2018–2019 financial year that is attributable to the ACMA’s telecommunications functions and powers; and

(b)        have been recovered from telecommunications charges (other than annual carrier licence charges).

(The amount determined to be the proportion of the ACMA’s costs for the 2018–2019 financial year that is attributable to the ACMA’s telecommunications functions and powers is $13 440 806 — see section 6 of the Telecommunications Carrier Licence Charges (Specification of Costs by the ACMA) Determination (No. 1) 2021.)

ER (eligible revenue), for the carrier, is the corresponding amount mentioned in the item in Schedule 1.

Note:       This amount is the eligible revenue of the carrier for the 2018–2019 financial year as assessed by the ACMA under subsection 47(1) of the TCPSS Act. 

TER (total eligible revenue) is $25 455 945 699.

Note:       This amount is the total sum of the eligible revenue of all the carriers named in Schedule 1 for the 2018–2019 financial year as assessed by the ACMA under subsection 47(1) of the TCPSS Act.    

(4)The amount for the purpose of this subsection is ascertained using the formula:

where:

APC (annual program costs) is equal to $1 702 406.

Note:       This amount is the portion of the costs incurred by the ACCC during the 2018-2019 financial year, as determined by the ACCC under paragraph 15(1)(b), that are attributable to the MBA.

FLC (fixed line connections) is the number listed for each participating person in an item in Schedule 2.

Note:       The FLC figure for each participating person is derived from information provided by the ACCC about the number of NBN fixed line connections operated in a test segment which are attributable to participating persons during the 2018-2019 financial year.

TFLC (total fixed line connections) is equal to 5 060 441.

Note:       This figure is derived from information provided by the ACCC about the total number of NBN fixed line connections operated in a test segment that are attributable to participating persons during the 2018-2019 financial year.

Schedule 1          Eligible revenue for carrier

(section 9)

Item	Carrier name	ACN/ABN	Amount
1	AARNet Pty Ltd	084 540 518	$54,703,805
2	Allegro Networks Pty Ltd	101 425 094	$2,034,336
3	BigAir Cloud Managed Services Pty Ltd	118 033 051	$1,376,038
4	Bigair Group Pty Limited	098 572 626	$17,876,844
5	Chime Communications Pty Ltd	073 119 285	$384,736,397
6	Integrated Data Labs Pty Ltd	076 582 280	$206,848
7	Intelligent IP Communications Pty Ltd	115 730 526	$2,322,130
8	Macquarie Telecom Pty Limited	082 930 916	$73,944,041
9	NBN Co Limited	136 533 741	$1,679,414,774
10	New Skies Satellites Australia Pty Ltd	114 962 248	$20,455,059
11	Nextgen Networks Pty Limited	094 147 403	$95,217,141
12	Nuskope Pty Ltd	125 849 149	$9,835,019
13	O3b Teleport Services (Australia) Pty Ltd	161 700 509	$49,318,902
14	Opticomm Ltd	117 414 776	$29,335,213
15	Optus Fixed Infrastructure Pty Limited	092 450 783	$20,341,110
16	Optus Mobile Pty Ltd	054 365 696	$3,794,654,063
17	Optus Networks Pty Limited	008 570 330	$1,152,897,559
18	Optus Satellite Network Pty Ltd	091 789 945	$162,460,761
19	Over The Wire Pty Ltd	115 387 258	$28,493,686
20	Pivotel Group Pty Limited	102 274 322	$42,056,143
21	Primus Telecommunications Pty Limited	071 191 396	$221,032,677
22	Skiron OpCo Pty Ltd	166 751 784	$603,663
23	Soul Pattinson Telecommunications Pty Limited	001 726 192	$841,764,134
24	Speedcast Australia Pty Ltd	159 524 553	$67,688,205
25	Superloop (Australia) Pty Ltd	602 286 608	$5,330,840
26	Telstra Corporation Limited	051 775 556	$14,514,205,847
27	Telstra Multimedia Pty Limited	069 279 072	$35,088,708
28	Uecomm Pty Limited	079 083 195	$62,347,716
29	Victorian Rail Track	55 047 316 805	$37,274,953
30	Vocus Fibre Pty Ltd	150 260 156	$197,753,333
31	Vodafone Australia Pty Limited	056 161 043	$1,851,175,754
Total Eligible Revenue	$25,455,945,699

Schedule 2          Fixed line connections for carrier

(section 9)

Item	Name of carrier	ACN/ABN	FLC
1	Chime Communications Pty Ltd	073 119 285	373,757
2	Optus Mobile Pty Limited	054 365 696	787,598
3	Soul Pattinson Telecommunications Pty Limited	001 726 192	817,742
4	Superloop (Australia) Pty Ltd	602 286 608	2,855
5	Telstra Corporation Limited	051 775 556	2,600,765
6	Vocus Fibre Pty Ltd	150 260 156	426,407
7	Vodafone Australia Pty Limited	056 161 043	51,317
Total Fixed Line Connections	5,060,441