Telstra Corporation Regulations 2000 2000 No. 103
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 2000 No. 103
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and
the Arts
Telstra Corporation Act 1991
Telstra Corporation Regulations 2000
Section 42 of the Telstra Corporation Act 1991 (the Act) allows the Governor-General to make regulations under the Act.
Section 52 of the Act provides for the establishment of the Untimed Local Call Access Account, which is a Special Account within the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purposes of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.
Section 53 of the Act provides for the crediting of $150 million from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the Untimed Local Call Access Account as soon as practicable after the 'social bonus commencement day'. The social bonus commencement day (22 October 1999) was the day on which proceeds from the second partial sale of shares in Telstra first reached $671 million. This sum was earmarked for certain beneficial projects including those provided for in Part 9 of the Act.
Paragraph 54(1)(b) of the Act provides that one of the purposes of the Untimed Local Call Access Account is to provide people who:
(a) are in standard zones (as defined by subsection 108(1) in Part 4 of the
Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999); and
(b) have only limited access to untimed local calls; and
(c) are included in a class of persons specified in the regulations (subparagraph
54(1)(b)(iii));
with extended access to untimed local calls.
The purpose of the accompanying regulations is to specify that persons within the 'inner extended zones' in remote Australia are a class of persons for the purposes of subparagraph 54(1)(b)(iii) of the Act.
Access to untimed local calls for over 99% of Australian telephone users is guaranteed under Part 4 of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999. This right is based on long-standing Telstra practice. Historically, however, untimed locals calls have been unavailable or have been severely restricted for subscribers living in Telstra's extended zones. Extended zones are call charge zones outside Telstra's standard local call charge zones. There are 111 extended zones covering approximately 80% of the Australian landmass, containing 39,533 services in total.
The restrictions on untimed local calls reflect the limited capacity of Telstra's remote infrastructure, particularly the Digital Radio Concentrator Systems (DRCS) used by around 12,000 subscribers. This limited capacity means subscriber usage must be constrained to prevent severe congestion. Pricing is used as a rationing mechanism.
These issues drove the Government's decision to appropriate $150 million from the second partial sale of Telstra shares for the upgrade of remote telecommunications infrastructure so as to allow wider availability of untimed local calls.
Each extended zone may contain one or more 'inner extended zones' as well as an 'outer extended zone'. Subscribers in outer extended zones do not have any access to untimed calls and are the primary object of paragraph 54(1)(a) of the Act. Inner extended zones are small communities within extended zones, generally containing a few hundred services, that have access to untimed local calls within the community but not to any other inner extended zones or the outer extended zone.
In Telstra terminology, inner extended zones are a class of local access charging precinct. However, while inner extended zones are not considered to be standard zones in terms of Telstra's zoning and charging regime, they are nonetheless standard zones for the purpose of section 108 of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999. Government policy is to ensure untimed calls throughout an extended zone (ie including inner extended zones). The accompanying regulations therefore allow monies from the Untimed Local Calls Access Account to be spent to provide subscribers within inner extended zones with extended access to untimed local calls.
Details of the accompanying regulations are in the Attachment.
The accompanying regulations commence on gazettal.
ATTACHMENT
DETAILS OF THE TELSTRA CORPORATION REGULATIONS 2000
Regulation 1 - Name of Regulations
Regulation 1 provides that the name of the accompanying regulations is the Telstra Corporation Regulations 2000.
Regulation 2 - Commencement
Regulation 2 provides that the accompanying regulations commence on gazettal.
Regulation 3 - Definitions
Regulation 3 provides for a definition of inner extended zone for the purposes of regulation 4. Inner extended zone is defined as a charging precinct that forms part of an extended charging zone.
Charging precinct is defined in regulation 3 as having the meaning given by section 16 of the Telstra Public Switched Telephone Service Standard Form of Agreement (the Agreement). Section 16 of the Agreement defines charging precinct as an allocated group of telephone numbers for call charging purposes, as listed in Attachment 7 to the Agreement.
Extended charging zone is defined in regulation 3 as having the meaning given by section 16 of the Agreement. Section 16 of the Agreement defines extended charging zone as an area defined by an allocated group of telephone numbers, for call charging purposes, in remote regions of Australia as listed in Attachment 6 to the Agreement.
Regulation 4 - Extended access to untimed local calls (Act s 54)
Regulation 4 provides that for the purpose of subparagraph 54(1)(b)(iii) of the Act, persons who are located in an inner extended zone are a class of persons.
The effect of regulation 4 is to enable monies from the Untimed Local Call Access Account to be spent to provide telephone subscribers within inner extended zones with extended access to untimed local calls, as well as the subscribers in outer extended zones provided for in paragraph 54(1)(a) of the Act.