The Communications Alliance has expressed some reservations about the competition watchdog's announcement of six principles of best practice in advertising broadband speeds.
In a statement, CA chief executive John Stanton said the organisation backed the objectives laid out in the ACCC’s detailed guidance to ensure that consumers were well informed about the broadband product they were buying, and were able to seek remedies if the service did not match performance levels claimed.
“However, Internet service providers think it is reasonable for consumers to receive an understanding of how their service will perform at various times of the day – not just in the evening busy hours, which are the focus of the ACCC guidance,” Stanton said.
The CA statement said telecommunications firms were examining the cost and complexity that would be added to the sale of broadband in Australia following the ACCC's announcement.
{loadposition sam08}“A number of ISPs have raised concerns that the ACCC guidance document... adds layers of complexity to the task of marketing broadband services in Australia," Stanton said.
“The guidance appears self-contradictory in parts – calling on service providers to ‘discontinue’ any promotion of the speeds that consumers will experience outside the evening ‘busy hours’, but later appearing to permit this.
“Questions as to the practicality of the processes that the guidance calls for will become clearer as ISPs attempt to comply with it.”
He said industry would keep working with the ACCC to assess how practical the guidance was and looked forward to the review of the regime 12 months ahead.