ACCC proposes to extend MTAS declaration

The ACCC has proposed to continue regulating the prices and other terms for Australia’s domestic mobile terminating access service (MTAS) for voice services, but to remove the regulation for SMS.

The MTAS is a wholesale service provided by mobile networks to their rivals to allow voice calls and SMS that originated on different networks to be connected, or terminated, on the charging network.

The ACCC been treating MTAS as a declared service to promote competition. A declared telecommunications service requires providers to grant access to those seeking access to the service or facility under terms set by the regulator. This can include the price terms that providers must offer in the absence of a commercial agreement.

The ACCC launched a review late last year into whether the MTAS should remain a declared service. The regulator has now published a draft report proposing that the MTAS for voice service should remain regulated for a further five years after the expiry of the current declaration in June.

But the report also proposes that the declaration of the MTAS for SMS services, which has been in place since 2014, is no longer necessary.

ACCC Chair Rod Sims said the draft decision was motivated by ongoing substitution of SMS in favour of over-the-top messaging services such as iMessage and WhatsApp, as well as the fact that the majority of mobile plans on offer now include unlimited SMS.

“Our decision to regulate SMS appears to have had the desired effect. We are therefore proposing to remove regulation of MTAS for SMS services as we do not think continued regulation is necessary to promote competition,” he said.

“However, over-the-top voice services are not yet substitutes for mobile voice calls as they do not offer the same quality or access to services such as Triple Zero. We are therefore proposing to continue declaration of MTAS for voice services.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/AA+W

Please follow us and share on Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe for FREE to our weekly newsletter and quarterly magazine.