Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS (REMOTE AREA REBATE) REPEAL REGULATIONS 2003 2003 NO. 19

Statutory Rules 2003 No. 19

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999

Telecommunications (Remote Area Rebate) Repeal Regulations 2003

Section 160 of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 (the Act) provides for the Governor-General to make regulations under the Act. Section 107 of the Act allows regulations to formulate a scheme to give benefits to a designated customer (a customer of a carriage service provider who is not in a standard zone) where the benefits:

(a) relate to charges for calls made using a standard telephone service supplied to the customer; and

(b) are comparable to the benefits given to eligible customers under section 104 of the Act (which deals with the requirement to provide an untimed local call option).

The Telecommunications (Remote Area Rebate) Regulations 1998 were made under section 107 of the Act and require a carrier with whom a customer has a primary service agreement to pay a benefit in the form of a rebate (known as the pastoral rebate) of up to $160.00 per calendar year off the cost of remote area calls. The rebate provided a comparable benefit for customers living outside standard zones for the lack of access to untimed local calls.

The purpose of the accompanying regulations is to repeal the Telecommunications (Remote Area Rebate Regulations) 1998 because the pastoral rebate provided for by those regulations was replaced with the preferential rate rebate. Subsequently, untimed calls at the local rate to community service towns were introduced.

An "Agreement for the provision of untimed local calls, untimed Internet access and other carrier services to Extended Zones" (Extended Zone Agreement) dated 1 June 2001 between the Commonwealth and Telstra provides for the introduction of untimed calls at the local call rate and other services in non-standard or extended zones. The implementation of the first stage of the Agreement on 31 July 2001 resulted in untimed calls at the local call rate becoming available to all end-users in "Extended Zones" for calls within an Extended Zone and to adjacent Extended Zones. However, as an interim measure calls between customers in an Extended Zone and its designated "Community Service Town" and the Community Service Towns of the adjacent Extended Zones were charged at a preferential rate of 27.5 cents (incl GST) per 12-minute block of time or part thereof.

The Extended Zone Agreement states that:

As of 31 July 2001, the existing Pastoral Rebate will be removed and, pending the provision of untimed calls to Community Service Towns, a rebate off the preferential rate will be paid to customers, with the amount of the rebate and other relevant arrangements to be agreed between the Commonwealth and the Contractor by separate agreement or stipulated under any regulations issued under the Telecommunications (CPSS) Act.

The preferential rate rebate has been implemented by a separate agreement dated 9 December 2002 between the Commonwealth and Telstra.

The second stage of the Extended Zone Agreement provides that, as early as 31 July 2002 and by April 2003 at the latest, calls between customers in EZs and CSTs will be at the untimed local call rate. The implementation of the second stage of the Agreement on 31 July 2002 resulted in untimed calls at the local call rate becoming available between EZs and CSTs.

Details of the accompanying regulations are in the Attachment.

The accompanying regulations commence on gazettal.

ATTACHMENT

DETAILS OF THE REGULATIONS

Regulation 1 - Name of Regulations

Regulation 1 provides that the name of the regulations is the Telecommunications (Remote Area Rebate) Repeal Regulations 2003.

Regulation 2 - Commencement

Regulation 2 provides that the regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 - Telecommunications (Remote Area Rebate) Regulations 1998 - repeal

Regulation 3 provides that Statutory Rules 1998 No. 339 (the Telecommunications (Remote Area Rebate) Regulations 1998) are repealed.