Key Points:
Both wholesale mobile voice and SMS termination will be
regulated from 1 July 2014 with the ACCC looking at setting
regulated prices for SMS termination services.
On 17 June 2014, the ACCC announced that for the next five years
it will add domestic wholesale SMS termination to the mobile
termination services which are regulated in Australia. This is a
significant decision for carriers and carriage service providers
and is the first time that SMS termination services have been
subject to regulation by the ACCC. The ACCC suggests that the
effect of the declaration will be "to see SMS termination
rates reduce which should lead to lower SMS prices for
consumers".
The ACCC's decision to extend the domestic mobile
terminating access service (MTAS) declaration to
SMS termination services opens the way for the ACCC to make a final
access determination (FAD) which sets wholesale
SMS termination charges.
