Our content licensing agreement with AAP stipulates that the material must be taken down 30 days from the date of publication. Therefore this particular story, having exceeded that time frame, has expired. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Our content licensing agreement with AAP stipulates that the material must be taken down 30 days from the date of publication. Therefore this particular story, having exceeded that time frame, has expired. We apologise for any inconvenience.
So, Telstra practiced predatory pricing for 6 weeks, signed up an enormous number of customers for long term contracts during that period, ignored the ACCC request to desist for as long as it could ... and completely got away with it.
No fines. No sackings of the managers who broke the competition law. No compensatory arrangements for the other ISPs.
What a joke. Clearly, might is right. It's no wonder Australia's telecommunications standing continues to slip versus other countries.
I commented weeks ago; T(H)elstra would do as it liked and ignore the ACCC. It has done it and got off scot free. No penalty & no sackings for ignoring the law. Watch out for further changes to this latest policy which will again ignore any attempt at fair competition or pricing. If you think T(H)elstra is going to toe the line, ever, think again. The looser as usual will be the consumer.
BTW: Anonymous never won a war guys.
As an agent for westnet, one of the unfortunate ISPs that have to deal with telstra, its only going to become harder and harder to compete with telstra while they are able to act with impunity regarding their monopolistic pricing plans.
Google Chrome OS demonstration
Vice President of Product Marketing Sundar Pichai gives a virtual tour of Google's new operating system, Chrom… Watch it now
Malcolm Turnbull's ghost twitterer
At the Sydney Media140 conference several weeks ago, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull admitted he doesn't pe… Watch it now
Surf the Net like it's 1991 with Gopher
The old Gopher protocol is not dead. In fact, it even has Twitter! Here's how to access it.… Watch it now
Having problems with complex data center? Simplify your data center now.
Is wholesale-only backhaul just a pipedream?
Get extensions going in Firefox, redux
How reliable is IP telephony?
What makes you click?
Tell us for a chance to win a $1,000 GAME gift voucher.
Click here for more.
Optus Deal
Broadband + home phone + PlayStation®3 in a single package price!
Click here for more!
Best Laptops
Check out the best laptops here!
Click here for more.
Has anyone actually taken the time to read the new pricing schedule? For those that haven’t, here’s the low down.
Protected Rates
256/64k using 0-300 MB per month $15.55
256/64k using 301-550 MB per month $26.46
256/64k using 550MB+ per month $31.91
512/128k using 0-550 MB per month $30.85
512/128k using 551-2000 MB per month $42.82
512/128k using 2000 MB+ per month $48.28
1.5M/256k using 0-550 MB per month $35.17
1.5M/256k using 551-2,000 MB per month $59.19
1.5M/256k using 2,001-10,000 MB per month $64.64
1.5M/256k using 10,000+ MB per month $81.01
512/512k all usage* $64.64
Growth Rates
256k $27.00
512/128k $33.21
1.5M $57.01
512/512k $64.64
An ISP must select to use the Protected pricing schedule OR the Growth Rates. It cannot mix and match on a per client/per speed basis.
This means three things. First of all, currently Telstra Wholesale has no means by which it is capable of monitoring the data through-put on each port. This means that each ISP must communicate to Telstra the traffic volume through each port. This gives Telstra unprecedented access to information about the individual user, which will likely be used for any number of anti-competitive purposes.
Second of all, these packages allow ISPs to compete either at the entry-level of the market or the higher end of the market. For an ISP to compete with Telstra’s $29.95 256k plan, they need to be on the protected rates to enable them to meet this pricing point AND meet their other costs (ATM’s, AGVC’s etc). It is likely that it is unsustainable for an ISP to offer a competitive 256k plan to this market and be on the growth rates option.
Using the protected rates, it locks ISPs into a pricing schedule based upon Bigpond’s products. With data being metered, an ISP can only compete with bigpond on price, not on other content such as free peering, local file mirrors, free gaming etc (*NB. An interesting point to note is that Bigpond offers its retail clients unmetered access to their game servers and streaming of V8 Supercars, I wonder if Telstra Wholesale charge them for this and retail absorbs the cost? I doubt it…). Another interesting change is that upload traffic is metered as well on these new plans.
Using the growth rates enables an ISP to target their prices to the higher end of the market, however it restricts their ability to compete with telstra on the 256k plan, which, I dare say, is likely to be the source of much of the growth in the market as this is a very much entry-level oriented product.
Finally, the protected scheme gives telstra the ability to charge for bandwidth they don’t provide, not once, but twice. The ISP will now be charged for data at the port, as well as at the AGVC.
About the only positive to come out this new pricing scheme was the reduction in cost in the 512/512 product, however, I daresay if Telstra notice this product becoming popular, they’ll very quickly enter the retail market for this product and alter the pricing regimes accordingly.
How can the ACCC be appeased by these plan changes? They bare no relationship to the costs telstra incur by providing these services and it restricts ISPs to competing either at the low end of the market, but on price only, or at the higher end of the market and being excluded from the prospect of entry-level customers.