TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CARRIER LICENCE FEES) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 225

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CARRIER LICENCE FEES) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 225

Statutory Rules No. 225 of 1994

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Communications and the Arts

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CARRIER LICENCE FEES) ACT 1991

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CARRIER LICENCE FEES) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)

Section 8 of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Section 4 of the Act imposes an annual fee on the holder of a general telecommunications or public mobile licence, in the form of a tax payable to the Commonwealth. The fee becomes payable to the Commonwealth on 1 July each year. The fee is an amount determined in accordance with regulations as in force immediately before that 1 July.

Regulation 3 of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Regulations (the Regulations) provides that a carrier's traffic share is the basis upon which the calculation of the fee is made. What is meant by the term "carrier's traffic share" is defined in regulation 2 as a figure worked out using the formula:

The terms "particular carrier's timed traffic" and "all carriers' timed traffic" are defined in subregulation 2(2) of the regulations. A "particular carrier's timed traffic" means in relation to a particular carder, the total (expressed in minutes) of the respective durations of all timed connections established during a relevant financial year across telecommunications networks operated by the particular carrier or the particular carrier's predecessor. "All carriers' times traffic" means the total (expressed in minutes) of the respective durations of all timed connections established during a relevant financial year across telecommunications networks in Australia operated by any carrier (including the particular carrier) or the predecessor of such a carrier.

"Timed connection" is defined in subregulation 2(1) as having the meaning given in subsection 305(2), (3) and (4) of the Telecommunications Act 1991 (Telecommunications Act).

The "timed connection" definition replaced a definition of "timed traffic" in subregulation 2(1) of the original Regulations. "Timed traffic" was defined as the number of minutes of timed traffic within the meaning of section 305 of the Telecommunications Act

When this amendment was made in 1992, it overlooked the importance of subsection 305(1) of the Telecommunications Act. Subsection 305(1) of the Telecommunications Act provides that the number of minutes of timed traffic of a carrier is the total of all respective durations of all timed connections established across networks operated by the carrier. Subsection 306(1) of the Telecommunications Act provides that section 306 applies for the purposes of subsection 305(1) where a connection is established over two or more networks. Subsection 306(3) provides that the duration of a notional connection is worked out by dividing the shared connection by the number of sharing carriers. In this way then, carriers were apportioned equal shares of traffic crossing their networks in common, and double counting was avoided.

The amending Regulations re-establish the link with section 306 and so prevent double counting of carriers' timed traffic and ensure the apportioning between carriers of shared traffic in equal shares. The proposed Regulations delete the definition of "timed connections" in sub-regulation 2(1), and amend sub-regulation 2(2) to provide that "particular carriers' timed traffic" and "all carriers' timed traffic" is defined by reference to section 305 of the Telecommunications Act.

The amending Regulations commenced on the date of Gazettal.