Telstra wins exemption appeal

Telstra yesterday won an appeal in the Federal Court to have a wholesale services decision overturned which was made by the Australian Competition Tribunal last year.

Justices Jacobson, Lander and Foster ordered the decision of the Australian Competition Tribunal — that Telstra not be exempt from providing wholesale line rental services in certain areas — be set aside and that the matters be remitted to the Tribunal for further consideration and determination.

"[It was] a common-sense decision that investment incentives and the potential for infrastructure competition need to be taken into account when examining the scope to roll back regulation," A Telstra spokesperson said of the verdict.

The Tribunal had ruled that Telstra should not be exempted from supplying wholesale line rental services in metro exchange areas where four or more competitors were renting the company's copper loop or where the exchange areas had 14,000 customers or more: an exemption the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission had granted the telco in August last year.

The Tribunal had not felt that the ACCC's reasoning was sound, saying that the entry into the market of one or more than one firm did not establish that the incumbent was subject to the constraints of competition.