CooperMills

Posts Tagged ‘telecommunications lawyer’

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman today released its annual report, which highlighted a spike in the number of complaints received, with mobile phone services leading the rise in complaints.

Of particular note there was a 26 per cent increase in disputes about internet charges on a mobile service.

According to the Report:

The TIO received a record number of new complaints in 2010-11, 197,682 or a substantial 17.8 per cent increase compared to the previous year, reversing the 4.6 per cent decrease in new complaints we reported in 2009-10.

The issue with the largest increase in mobile phone complaints was faults, with 56,475 issues raised or a 180.7 per cent increase from the previous year. The two most common complaints in this area include poor coverage (28,634 issues or a 609.6 per cent increase) and dropouts
(6,941 issues or a 482.8 per cent increase).

The TIO figures have been controversial in the past, with critics claiming that the TIO double and triple counts complaints, which results in the high headline number of complaints.

The TIO data will not doubt be seized on my the ACMA, who is looking at reform of the Telco industry following the release of its Reconnecting the Customer report.

Tags: ACMA, ISP Lawyers, telco lawyer, telecommunications law, telecommunications lawyer, TIO
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law | Comments Off

The Australian Communications and Media Authority foreshadows changes to telemarketing rules contained in the Telecommunications (Do Not Call Register) (Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard 2007.

Some of the proposed changes include:

1. Revising Saturday calling times;
2. Information provision;
3. Additional CLI Information;

For more detail on the proposed changes, you can download the Cooper Mills Bulletin here.

 

 

Tags: ACMA, Do Not Call Register, IT Law, technology law, Telco Law, telecommunications law, telecommunications lawyer
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law | Comments Off

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) has released a draft report into the pricing model of fixed line telephony services, proposing radical price reductions, which is likely to see Telstra’s fixed line revenues fall even further.

The ACCC has suggested a move away from the traditional wholesale pricing model based Retail Price less Retail Cost, instead the ACCC has suggested an alternative model:

The ACCC has used a building block pricing model (also known as a regulated asset base, or “RAB” model), which calculates prices based on the assets and costs associated with providing the regulated services. It is consistent with the ACCC’s approach in other regulated industries. All submissions received in response to the ACCC’s December discussion paper supported such an approach.

The new model has suggested an across the board charge of $20 per month for line rental down from the two consumer and business rates that exist, while the ACCC has suggested a reduction of wholesale local call costs from 17c to 7c, a massive drop, which is likely to anger Telstra. Below we have extracted the draft pricing for the period 2011 to 2014:

Draft indicative prices

For ULLS services, the Bands relate to different geographical areas.

• Band 2 covers non-CBD metropolitan areas, where approximately 70 per cent of Australia’s population live.
• Band 4 price for more remote areas is notional, as there is very little demand, significant technological limitations on the copper and no reliable information on which to determine a price using the ACCC’s model. In June 2010, there were only about 144 active ULLS services in Band 4 compared to over 690,000 active ULLS services across Bands 1, 2 and 3.

Summary—Current indicative prices compared with proposed draft indicative prices to apply from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2014
	Current indicative prices	Draft indicative prices
ULLS access prices with geographically de-averaged prices
Band 1	$6.60	$6.50
Band 2	$16.00	$16.00
Band 3	$31.30	$31.00
Band 4 (notional price)		$100
WLR (per line per month)	$25.57 (Homeline) $26.93 (Businessline)	$20.00 (nationally averaged)
LSS (per line per month)	$2.50	$2.50
PSTN OA and TA (per minute)	1c (headline rate)	1.1c (headline rate)
LCS (per call)	17c	7c

Tags: ACCC, Declared Service, telecommunications law, telecommunications lawyer, Wholesale Call Costs
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, Trade Practices Law, Uncategorized | Comments Off

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued the first round of licences for additional spectrum for mobile telecommunications services at hundreds of sites throughout remote and regional Australia.

In the first round, Optus was successful in securing licences for 972 sites.

The ACMA received applications in response to an invitation for interested parties to apply for radiocommunications licences in the 2 Ghz band during May 2010. The 2 GHz band is used by mobile carriers to provide 3G mobile services.

In announcing the award of licences ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman said:

I am delighted by the high level of demand from industry for additional spectrum in the 2 GHz band in regional and remote Australia.

It is expected that a second round of licensing will take place following an assessment of Telstra’s application for multiple sites.

The ACMA expect that this process will lead to a significant increase in the availability of 3G mobile phone services in regional and remote Australia, based on the number of sites applied for by Optus and Telstra.

Tags: ACMA, ISP lawyer, Spectrum Licensing, Telco Law, telco lawyer, telecommunications law, telecommunications lawyer
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law | Comments Off

In a landmark move, the ACMA has for the first time brought an action in the Federal Court  against Telco GoTalk for an alleged breaches of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006.

The ACMA alleges that GoTalk via its two offshore calls centres called 40,000 numbers contained on the Do Not Call Register.

Breaches of this kind have proven to be costly for infringing companies in the past, with Dodo Australia being issued a fine of $147 400 in 2008 for its call centres ringing 67 de-listed Australian phone numbers.

This isn’t the first sign of trouble for GoTalk. Last year the company accepted undertakings by the ACCC to record telemarketing calls and to monitor conversations at random to ensure compliance with the TPA, in response to allegations that its offshore call centres had misrepresented information to consumers, including pricing and terms and conditions.

The matter is listed for directions on 29 March 2010 in the Federal Court in Sydney.

Tags: ACMA, Do Not Call Register, Do Not Register Call Act, GoTalk, ISP lawyer, ISP Lawyers, IT Lawyers, telecommunications lawyer, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, Spam, Uncategorized | Comments Off

A new website has been launched by the Federal Government’s Australian Communications and Media Authority to help children and teenagers to have safe and positive experiences online.

The site – www.cybersmart.gov.au – provides comprehensive and practical advice for parents and interactive learning activities and information for children. Cybersmart also features guidance and a range of resources for libraries and schools.

The Acting Chairman of ACMA, Chris Cheah, said the Cybersmart site is about empowering Australian children and young people to be smart online and to become good digital citizens.

“Understanding how to navigate the online world safely is an important element in the development of digital literacy. By providing teachers and parents with clear, current and credible information about cyber safety, we assist them to develop in young people, the critical skills needed to stay safe online and get the most from their online encounters,” Mr Cheah added.

The website also includes an online helpline for young people who have had negative experiences online, such as cyber bullying. The helpline offers confidential advice and support from counsellors who are trained in listening to children and have expertise in cyber safety. Best of all the website has something for parents and teenagers, which are critical to effectively achieve the goals of the website.

The launch of the website raises the question of whether this website is a pre-cursor to the Government considering dropping its hugely unpopular internet filtering plans. Website like this one provide for a more considered solution to protecting children on the internet.

Tags: internet filtering, internet law, isp law, ISP lawyer, online safety, telecommunications lawyer
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law | Comments Off