FEDERAL COURT RULES TELSTRA BREACHED OPTUS ACCESS AGREEMENT

In the Federal Court yesterday, Justice Edmonds ruled that Telstra has breached the provisions of the access agreement it has with Optus by misusing Optus' confidential information, in some cases for its own marketing purposes.

In a long running case, Optus alleged that at least in the period 1993 to 2000 its confidential Long Distance traffic information was provided by Telstra Wholesale to Telstra Retail. Telstra Retail then used that information to prepare "Market Share" Reports marked 'Top Secret' which formed the basis of marketing and advertising attacks in the long distance call market to lure Optus customers back to Telstra and gain market share.

The sharing of information between Telstra Wholesale and Retail meant that in real time, Telstra Retail effectively tracked the success of Optus marketing initiatives and special offers and was able to monitor market share performance for marketing purposes.

Justice Edmonds has ruled in favour of Optus, finding that Telstra has acted in breach of its agreement with Optus and is liable to Optus for its breaches.

Now that legal liability has been established, Optus will seek to establish the extent of Telstra's breaches of the access agreement and will be seeking damages.

Maha Krishnapillai, Director of Government and Corporate Affairs said: "This is another example of anti-competitive behaviour from Telstra. And it is more historical evidence of why Telstra should be separated as canvassed in the Government's regulatory reform discussion paper of 7 April 2009."

The judgement can be found at: http://www.austlii.org/au/cases/cth/FCA/2009/422.html

Media contact:
Melissa Favero
Optus Corporate Affairs
Tel: (02) 8082 7850