Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

On 23 June 2011 the Australian Government announced that it had entered into an agreement with Telstra for the ongoing delivery of the Universal Service Obligation for voice and payphone services and other public interest services. At this time the Government also provided detail on the new arrangements through the release of a policy statement, Universal Service Policy in the National Broadband Network Environment, available at the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy website.

The residual costs that will be met by industry are the costs of the Telecommunications Universal Service Management Agency, or TUSMA (previously referred to as USO Co), minus the Government ' s dedicated funding. These costs will include the costs of agreements with Telstra and NRS providers that will be managed by the CEO of the TUSMA in accordance with the proposed TUSMA legislation.

As outlined in the policy statement, the agreement with Telstra will cost approximately $290 million annually (for the delivery of the standard telephone service USO, the payphones USO, and the Emergency Call Service), plus costs relating to migration of voice-only customers from the copper network to the fibre network, and costs if necessary for developing technological solutions for public interest services (public alarm systems and traffic lights).

To facilitate the smooth transition to the new arrangements the Government and Telstra have agreed to interim funding arrangements for the first two financial years to provide certainty to industry. This interim arrangement will mean the aggregate levy contribution that is made by telecommunications firms other than Telstra will, for the first two years, remain at the amount non - Telstra contributors are assessed as being required to contribute under the USO and NRS schemes for the 2011–12 period .

As part of the announcement the Government also stated that it will review the industry levy arrangements and the need for any additional Budget funding, over and above the Government's committed base funding, during the course of the first two financial years of the Telecommunication Universal Service Management Agency's operation.

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