Media Release: The Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network will inquire into the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Fibre Deployment) Bill 2011. The Bill will amend the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cwlth) to ensure the installation of infrastructure for fibre to the premises as part of the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) and enable NBN Co. to be the fibre provider of last resort in new developments, including broad acre estates, urban infill and urban renewal projects within its fibre footprint. This will provide developers with the option to use NBN Co. to install fibre infrastructure for new developments.
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jcnbn/docs/tlafdbill.pdf

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jcnbn/bill/media/media01.pdf

Other provisions of the Bill include:

• Enabling Telstra to have a transitional role for providing services for infill developments of less than 100 premises that do not yet have fibre.
• Giving developers the option to use telecommunications providers other than Telstra for installing services for infill developments of less than 100 premises that do not yet have fibre.
• Putting in place the optical fibre line requirement to ensure that fibre is provided for new developments in the long term if required, and the fibre-ready facility requirement to allow the ready deployment of fixed telecommunications lines to a premises.
• Prohibiting constitutional corporations from selling or leasing land or buildings situated in new developments unless fibre-ready facilities have been installed
• Attaching penalties to the sale or lease of land or buildings where fibre-ready facilities have not been installed.
• Exclusion from the fibre ready facility and fibre-ready installation requirements of new developments where urban utilities are not installed (are outside the fibre footprint).
• Ministerial authority to exempt by legislative instrument, projects, individual lots, units or conduct otherwise subject to the provisions of the Bill.
• A regime for carriers to secure access to fixed-line facilities which are owned by non-carriers, to ensure the fibre rollout using these facilities.
• Empowering the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to be the default arbitrator for the access regime for carriers including setting the code of conditions for and determining the feasibility of third party access to the regime.
• Empowering the Australian Communications and Media Authority to make technical standards for customer premises equipment and cabling for use with the NBN and other superfast telecommunications networks.

Submissions to the inquiry are invited and should reach the Secretariat no later than 20 May 2011. The Bill and its Explanatory Memorandum are available on the committee’s website at: www.aph.gov.au/jcnbn/telbill