Telstra will today contest a A$300 million ($277.22m) fine in a Federal Court for allegedly denying wholesale access to its telephony exchanges.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, which initiated proceedings against Telstra in March 2008, claims Telstra failed to grant wholesale customers, including Optus and iiNet, access to its telephony exchanges in seven metro areas, reportstheAustralian.
Telstra conceded it had failed to comply with its mandatory access obligations as per the Telecommunications Act 1997 in an ACCC filing last year.
“At a time of rapid growth in broadband uptake, we made some mistakes evaluating requests from wholesale customers wanting access to our exchanges,” a Telstra spokesperson told the Australian.
“We changed our processes two years ago to ensure it wouldn't happen again.”
The law suit is scheduled to be heard in the Federal Court in Victoria for up to nine days.