Review of the operation of the Universal Service Obligation 2004

The following is information on the 2004 review of the Universal Service Obligation and Customer Service Guarantee, undertaken by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

The 2007 review is currently underway and was announced by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts on 27 June 2007.

Universal Service Obligation Review 2007

On 1 December 2003, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, in accordance with section 159A of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 (the TCPSS Act), asked the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (the Department) to review, consider and report on USO and CSG policy issues as specified in the terms of reference.

The key focus of the review was the operation of Parts 2 and 5 of the TCPSS Act and whether they best promoted the objects of the TCPSS Act. The review also addressed two specific recommendations of the Regional Telecommunications Inquiry relating to the arrangements for costing and funding of the USO and whether network extension and trenching costs impede access to USO services.

The terms of reference for the review provide further information.

A copy of the Government's December 2003 media release including terms of reference for the review can be found here.

Written submissions closed on 6 February 2004. Submissions to the review from interested stakeholders are available here.

On 17 June 2004, the Minister tabled the Department’s report on the review of the Universal Service Obligation arrangements and the Customer Service Guarantee in Parliament. The Minister announced that the Government did not intend to change the broad legislative framework of the USO and the CSG as a result of the review.

A copy of the report is available in both HTML and PDF format.

• Document ID: 8726 |
• Last modified: 18 February 2008, 3:48pm