Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS (REGIONAL BROADBAND SCHEME) CHARGE BILL 2018

                                        2016-2017-2018

            THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

                                            SENATE

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (REGIONAL BROADBAND SCHEME) CHARGE BILL 2018

                  SUPPLEMENTARY EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

                     Amendment to be moved on behalf of the Government
 Clause 20 provides for transitional arrangements for a carrier's chargeable premises for a
 month in the first five eligible financial years to be reduced by up to 25,000 if the carrier has
 up to 25,000 'potentially concessional premises' for that month. Potentially concessional
 premises would be defined in proposed section 96A of Part 3 of the Telecommunications
 (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 (TCPSS Act) (item 13 of Schedule 4
 to the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer) Bill 2018)
 as chargeable premises that are residential or small business premises. Currently, the proposed
 concession is applied to individual carriers. However, this disadvantages smaller carriers that
 are not part of an associated group of carriers. The amendment seeks to address this inequity
 by providing that, where a carrier is part of an associated group of carriers, the concession
 will apply only to the controller of an associated group and not to each individual carrier
 under the controller. This will support market competition and ensure the concession is
 applied equitably across carriers that are required to pay the Regional Broadband Scheme
 (RBS) charge. Carriers that are not part of an associated group will not be impacted by this
 amendment; they will still obtain the benefit of the concession for the first five eligible years
 of the RBS. The amendment does not alter the financial impact outlined in the explanatory
 memorandum to the Bill.

                                        AMENDMENT
 Amendment (1)
 The amendment would add five new subclauses to clause 20. It provides an exception to
 subclauses 20(1) and 20(2), in relation to a person for a month if the person is a 'subordinate
 member' of an associated group during the whole or part of the month (proposed subclause
 20(3) refers). If a person is in a position to exercise control of a local access line or a
 telecommunications network and the person has one or more associates, then the person is
 taken to belong to an associated group and each of those associates would be a subordinate
 member of the associated group. Together, proposed subclauses 20(3) and 20(4) have the
 effect of, in the case of associated carrier groups, applying the concession under subclauses
 20(1) and 20(2) to the controlling carrier of an associated group but not to the subordinate
 members of the associated group. Note, the references to a person who is in a position to
 exercise control includes natural persons as well as a corporation.

 Proposed subclauses 20(5), 20(6) and 20(7) set out the method by which to ascertain whether
 a person is in a position to exercise control of either a local access line or a
 telecommunications network. This method is consistent with proposed subsections 95(3),
 95(4) and 95(5) (new Part 2 of the TCPSS Act). Amendment (86) of Sheet LC176 would add
 a further reporting item to the annual RBS carrier report to assist the Australian
 Communications and Media Authority with its assessment of charge liability and related
 enforcement.

                  (Circulated by authority of the Minister for Communications,
                             Senator the Honourable Mitch Fifield)