Communications Alliance Welcomes Telco Elements of Government’s Red Tape Repeal Day

Sydney, 19 March 2014 – Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton today welcomed the telco-related measures within the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2014) Bill, introduced into Federal Parliament.

Mr Stanton said the Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, Parliamentary Secretary Paul Fletcher, their advisers and Department had engaged effectively to date with industry to identify regulation that can be removed to the benefit of consumers and industry.

If passed, the repeal bill will remove most of Part 23 of the Telecommunications Act, dealing with standard form agreements. This move recognises that the requirements were made obsolete by the provisions of the revised Communications Alliance Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code, which came into force in 2012.

“We are also pleased with the streamlining of the requirements for carriage service providers to lodge access agreements with the ACCC, and with the newly created ability for Comms Alliance to amend Codes, rather than having to open them up for full revision,” Mr Stanton said.

He said priority was now being given to reaching agreement on a larger and more complex package of telco-related reforms which industry hoped to see included in the second repeal day, later in 2014.

ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE

Communications Alliance is the primary telecommunications industry body in Australia. Its membership is drawn from a wide cross-section of the communications industry, including carriers, carriage and internet service providers, content providers, search engines, equipment vendors, IT companies, consultants and business groups.

Its vision is to provide a unified voice for the telecommunications industry and to lead it into the next generation of converging networks, technologies and services. The prime mission of Communications Alliance is to promote the growth of the Australian communications industry and the protection of consumer interests by fostering the highest standards of business ethics and behaviour through industry self-governance. For more details about Communications Alliance, see www.commsalliance.com.au.

Media information contact:

Kreab Gavin Anderson
Lucy Chamberlain lchamberlain@kreabgavinanderson.com 0402 106 613