Vertigan wants to split NBN Co; ACMA slaps iiNet, Dodo on the wrist; Alcatel sells enterprise division for $290m

The Vertigan panel has delivered its Market and Regulatory Report into the NBN, recommending that NBN Co be split into multiple competing entities. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull rejected the idea for now, but has left it open for the future.

“The panel recommends that the government move to disaggregate NBN Co along the lines of its underlying networks where each of the satellite, fixed wireless, HFC and FTTx networks would serve as the basis for a competing entity,” the report said.

Such disaggregation would improve infrastructure competition and encourage private investment, according to the panel.

The panel claimed its recommended disaggregation approach should, over time, “reduce financial risks to taxpayers, facilitate a transition to private funding and improve the chance of efficient and timely network deployment”.

The report acknowledged that splitting NBN Co could lead to some duplication of operating and network upgrade costs, but claimed that “the panel’s modelling shows that if competition sped up delivery by one year and accelerated the annual growth rate of productivity by 2.5 per cent, its benefits would more than outweigh those costs of duplication”.

But Turnbull released a statement saying: “While disaggregation of NBN Co’s business units (as the panel recommends) after the network is complete cannot be ruled out, now is not the time. Breaking up NBN Co would distract its management and delay the provision of high-speed broadband to all Australians.”

Turnbull said the government aims to provide a full response to the report before the end of the year.

iiNet, Dodo get slap on wrist from ACMA

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued formal warnings to ISPs iiNet and Dodo Services for failing to follow the industry regulations for direct debiting customers.

The regulations in question are part of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code, which all telecommunications providers are required to comply with.

According to ACMA, the TCP requires providers to “comply with a customer’s authorisation when offering a direct debit payment facility”.

This includes cancelling an authorisation within three working days on request and giving customers at least 10 working days to check their bill before the direct debit transaction occurs - unless the customer and provider have agreed on a different timeframe.

According to ACMA, the two ISPs in question violated some of these provisions. For example, on seven occasions between December 2012 and September 2013, Dodo Services did not cancel a direct debit authorisation within three working days.

ACMA provided some specifics on iiNet’s transgressions. On 96 occasions in July 2013, for example, iiNet failed to give customers the required 10 working days to check their bill before the associated debit occurred.

ACMA said that since its investigations into Dodo Services and iiNet, both companies have “taken action to ensure direct debit related breaches do not recur.”

Alcatel sells enterprise division for $290m

Alcatel-Lucent has sold off its Enterprise division for a sum of €202 million - about AU$290 million - to China Huaxin Post & Telecommunication Economy Development Center.

Alcatel-Lucent will keep a 15% stake in the newly formed holding company, which will be incorporated in France.

According to a statement at enterprise.alcatel-lucent.com, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise will continue to focus on enterprise communications and networking, while “exploring new market opportunities in select, high-growth countries, vertical solutions and cloud services”.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise will be headquartered in Colombes, with more than 2700 employees across the globe and operations in more than 80 countries.

PC World quoted Gartner analyst Steve Blood as saying: “Getting rid of the [Enterprise business] unit was absolutely the right thing to do and [Alcatel-Lucent] should have done it years ago.”

Image courtesy Dushan Hanuska under CC