Vodafone has taken legal action against the ACCC over what it described as a “flawed” inquiry process that resulted in the watchdog’s draft decision on domestic roaming.
Last month, the ACCC announced its draft decision to not declare wholesale domestic mobile roaming, which Vodafone has claimed will see phone users “continue to pay too much and suffer poor coverage in regional areas”.
“The domestic mobile roaming inquiry is an opportunity to do better for regional Australia, but if domestic roaming is not declared, consumers will be denied the benefits of increased coverage, competition and choice,” Vodafone said in a statement.
Vodafone has requested that the Federal Court review the ACCC’s inquiry process “on behalf of all Australian mobile customers”.
“We do not believe the process has been carried out properly because a specific domestic roaming service has not been defined by the ACCC. The process is failing consumers because it is too vague,” Vodafone said.
If the ACCC chose to declare wholesale domestic mobile roaming, all telcos would be required to let other carriers use their networks at fixed prices.
Both Telstra and Optus are strongly opposed to the idea. Telstra’s group managing director of networks Mike Wright said it would allow Vodafone and other telcos to effectively “piggyback” on the Telstra network.
