EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999
Digital Data Service Provider Declaration 1999 (No. 1)
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
Part 2 of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 (the Act) establishes a universal service regime for Australian telecommunications. The main object of the regime is to ensure that all people in Australia, wherever they reside or carry on business, should have reasonable access on an equitable basis to: standard telephone services; payphones; prescribed carriage services; and digital data services.
Subsection 12A(1) of the Act provides that for the purposes of the Act, a digital data service is general digital data service or a special digital data service.
Subsection 12A(2) of the Act provides that a general digital data service (GDDS) is a carriage service that provides a digital data capability broadly comparable to that provided by a data channel with a data transmission speed of 64 kilobits per second (kbps) supplied to end-users as part of the designated basic rate Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) service.
Subsection 12A(4) of the Act defines the term ‘designated basic rate ISDN service’ to mean the basic rate ISDN service that Telstra actually supplied immediately before 1 July 1997, that service being Telstra’s ISDN service, that is compliant with European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standards. The GDDS can be likened to the ISDN service currently available to 96% of the Australian population, as required by licence condition imposed under paragraph 66(1)(b) of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
Subsection 12A(3) of the Act provides that a special digital data service (SDDS) is a carriage service that provides for a capability for the delivery of digital data to an end-user broadly comparable to the corresponding capability provided by a data channel with a data transmission speed of 64kbps supplied to end-users as part of the designated basic rate ISDN service.
The SDDS can be likened to an asymmetrical service that provides via satellite a data capability as the down link (to the end-user) that is broadly comparable to 65 kbps, with a lesser data rate service for the other direction (from the end-user). Nothing in subsection 12A(3), however, is intended to prevent a symmetric satellite service (that is, one capable of providing the same data transmission capability in both directions) or any other technological solution from meeting the requirements of subsection 12A(3).
Subsection 26A(1) of the Act provides for the Minister to make a written declaration stating that a specified carrier is a general digital data service provider (GDDSP) for a specified general digital data service area (GDDSA). The Minister may determine a service area to be a GDDSA under section 19B of the Act.
Section 15 of the Act establishes that regardless of size, a digital area service area is a geographical area within Australia; or any area of land; or any premises or part of premises.
Subsection 26A(2) of the Act provides for the Minister to make a written declaration stating that a specified carrier is a special digital data service provider (SDDSP) for a specified special digital data service area (SDDSA). The Minister may determine an area to be a SDDSA under section 19C of the Act.
Part 2, Division 3A of the Act (digital data service providers) provides for more than one GDDSP to be declared a for a specified GDDSA, and for more than one SDDSP to be declared for a specified SDDSA.
The accompanying declaration has been made for the purposes of subsections 26A(1) and (2) of the Act. The declaration provides for Telstra to be declared as a GDDSP for the GDDSA, ascertained in accordance with the Schedule to the Digital Data Service Areas Determination 1999 (No. 1). The declaration also provides for Telstra to be declared as a SDDSP for the SDDSA.
Subsection 26A(9) of the Act provides that an instrument under subsections (1) or (2) is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. The accompanying determination must therefore be published in the Commonwealth Gazette, tabled in Parliament and will be subject to Parliamentary disallowance.
Details of the accompanying Declaration are as follows:
Section 1 – Citation
Section 1 provides that the name of the accompanying Declaration is the Digital Data Service Provider Declaration 1999 (No. 1)
Section 2 – Commencement
Section 2 provides that the accompanying Declaration commences on gazettal.
Section 3 – Interpretation
Section 3 provides interpretation for the key terms in the accompanying Declaration.
Section 4 – General digital data service provider
Section 4 specifies Telstra to be a GDDSP for those areas determined in accordance with section 4 of the Digital Data Service Areas Determination 1999 (No. 1) to be GDDSA areas.
Telstra is required, through its carrier licence condition, to be in a position to make available, within 90 days of a request, a carriage service that provides a digital data capability broadly comparable to that provided by a data channel with a data transmission speed of 64 kilobits per second supplied to end-users as part of the designated basic rate ISDN service to at least 96% of the Australian population by 31 December 1998.
It is expected that Telstra will use its ISDN service to fulfil the GDDS obligation.
The Schedule to the Digital Data Service Areas Determination 1999 (No. 1) comprises two tables. Table A is a list of ISDN compatible Telstra telephone exchanges in metropolitan areas (metropolitan areas), and table B is a list of ISDN compatible Telstra telephone exchanges in country areas (country areas). In metropolitan areas ISDN is available up to a radius of 4 kilometres from the exchange and in country areas ISDN is available up to a radius of 6 kilometres from the exchange.
However, there are a limited number of exemptions to ISDN being accessible to a telephone service within the metropolitan areas and country areas. These exemptions apply when the connection which would be used to supply the GDDS to the location:
- incorporates subscriber line conditioning equipment, such equipment includes:
- Signalling Loop Extenders, that provide a DC battery boost to the customer’s copper pair service for signalling, and also provides a ring boost for long customers lines;
- Hybrid Amplifiers, that provide amplification and equalisation when the standard attenuation losses on a line are exceeded, and
- Negative Impedance Repeaters, that provide a voice frequency amplification.
- Incorporates a Pair Gain System (PGS), such systems include: analogue carrier 1+1 FM system described below; analogue concentrator (MLC and LLC) described below; digital multiplexer (2DPGS & 4DPGS) described below; and digital multiplexer/concentrator (DCS20 and RCM) described below.
- 1 + 1 (FM) System uses frequency modulation to derive a second service over a single pair of copper conductors. The system allows two customers known as the Physical and Carrier to make simultaneous calls, or the one customer to have two services;
- Mini Line Concentrator (MLC) is an analogue concentrating unit of 16 lines and 6 trunks that allows up to 16 customer lines to be supplied from 6 exchange lines;
- Large Line Concentrator (LLC) has up to 96 lines and 16 trunks allowing up to 96 customer lines to be supplied from 16 exchange lines;
- 2 Channel Digital Pair Gain System (2DPGS) is where a single copper pair is used to provide 2 voice channels, using a digital transmission system (this may be for separate customer services, or one customer with multiple services);
- 4 Channel Digital Pair Gain System (4DPGS) is where a single copper pair is used to provide 4 voice channels, using a digital transmission system (this may be for separate customer services, or one customer with multiple services);
- Digital Concentrator System (DCS-20) which is a multiplexing concentrator in 120 line modules, voice services are concentrated at the remote unit and transmitted on a digital bearer to the exchange unit where the process is reversed; and
- Remote Customer Multiplexer (RCM) which uses a 2MBits multiplexing device that transparently delivers 30 voice services.
- Analogue Radio System is where two categories of customers are served by analogue radio systems, that that have dedicated point to point radio systems, and those that have a common multi channel base station and use concentration of channels to deliver the customers voice channel; and
- Digital Radio Systems described below:
: Fixed Radio Access (FRA) that is a line of sight radio system capable of providing up to two voice channels over a 40 kilometres distance, depending on terrain;
: Digital Radio Concentrator System (DRCS) that is a digital multi channel based radio concentrating system; and
: High Capacity Radio Concentrator (HCRC) that is a larger capacity digital multi channel based radio concentrating system.
Should the GDDSP wish to be exempted from providing a GDDS in a metropolitan area or a country area, for a reason other than those exemptions listed above, the GDDSP will need to apply to the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) for such an exemption. The ACA in making a certification for location to be classed as a SDDSA should have regard to whether it would be unreasonable to require a GDDSP to provide the GDDS to the location.
Section 5 – Special digital service provider
Section 5 specifies Telstra to be a SDDSP for those areas determined under the Digital Data Service Areas Determination 1999 (No.1) to be SDDSAs.
The SDDSAs includes all those areas of Australia not covered by the GDDSA (the remaining 4% of the Australian population).
It is envisaged that not all areas in the SDDSA will be able to be provided with a SDDS from day one. A SDDSP is required to provide to the Minister, within 90 days of being declared a SDDSP, a SDDS Plan.
Section 40B of the Act provides that a SDDS Plan for the SDDSA is a plan that sets out how a SDDSP will progressively fulfil its SDDS obligation. The Plan must therefore indicate how the SDDSP proposes to meet its digital data service obligation by, for example, rolling out additional network infrastructure by a certain date.