NBN Co (2022)
Competitive neutrality investigation report
This investigation report was released on 29 November 2022.
The report investigates a complaint from OptiComm Limited alleging that NBN Co is not complying with its obligations under competitive neutrality policy and is benefiting from competitive advantages simply as a result of its Government ownership.
Further details can be found in the report.
Download the report
- NBN Co - Competitive neutrality investigation report 18 (PDF - 1193 Kb)
- NBN Co - Competitive neutrality investigation report 18 (Word - 1092 Kb)
- Contents
- Preliminaries: Cover, Copyright and publication detail, Transmittal letter, Contents, Acknowledgements and Competitive neutrality policy
- Overview
- Recommendations and findings
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1. About the complaint
- 1.1 Nature of the complaint
- 1.2 About NBN Co
- 1.3 Jurisdiction of the AGCNCO
- 1.4 Why competitive neutrality matters
- 1.5 Scope and conduct of the investigation
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2. Debt neutrality
- 2.1 A summary of NBN Co’s debt portfolio
- 2.2 The Australian Government $19.5 billion loan
- 2.3 Private debt
- 2.4 Addressing current and future debt neutrality
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3. Tax neutrality
- 3.1 NBN Co’s exposure to taxes and charges
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4. Regulatory neutrality
- 4.1 Part 8 of the Telecommunications Act
- 4.2 The Regional Broadband Scheme levy
- 4.3 The Telecommunications in New Developments policy
- 4.4 The Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018
- 4.5 Allocation of spectrum
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5. Competitive disadvantages
- 5.1 Fixed-wireless and satellite network services
- 5.2 Obligation to connect all premises within its fixed-line network
- 5.3 Line-of-business restrictions
- 5.4 ACCC-determined Points of Interconnect
- 5.5 Requirement to prioritise regional areas
- 5.6 Requirements for uniform national wholesale pricing and uniform national price caps
- 5.7 Status as Infrastructure Provider of Last Resort and Statutory Infrastructure Provider
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6. Earning a commercial rate of return
- 6.1 What is an appropriate commercial rate of return?
- 6.2 Has NBN Co earned a commercial rate of return on assets? — an ex post assessment
- 6.3 An ex ante assessment of the commerciality test and its relevance to policy solutions
- 6.4 Reformulating the commerciality test in competitive neutrality policy
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7. Other competitive neutrality issues
- 7.1 Full cost attribution
- 7.2 Additional guidelines would assist the future implementation of competitive neutrality policy
- 7.3 Lack of transparency about and accountability for competitive neutrality
- 7.4 Inadequate monitoring of competitive neutrality compliance
- 7.5 Tax deductibility of competitive neutrality payments
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A. The cost of capital
- A.1 Introduction
- A.2 Building up NBN Co’s weighted average cost of capital from its components
- A.3 Alternative views about NBN Co’s WACC
- A.4 The relationship between the IRR and the WACC suggests a non-commercial rate of return
- A.5 The implications of the fair value of NBN Co
- A.6 A failure to pay debt neutrality payments affects commercial returns
- References
Printed copies
Printed copies of this report can be purchased from Canprint Communications.
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