COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

   Telecommunications Act 1997

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT PLANS (DECLARED KINDS OF CARRIERS) DECLARATION (No. 1 of 2004)

I, HELEN LLOYD COONAN, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, acting under subclause 5(1) of Schedule 1 to the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act) revoke the Determination entitled Exemption from Industry Development Plan Requirements (No. 1 of 2001), made on 24 September 2001, and declare that the kinds of carriers specified in this Declaration are declared kinds of carriers for the purposes of clause 5 of Schedule 1 to the Act:

(a)       a carrier in relation to which the ACA has previously worked out a levy    contribution factor for an eligible revenue period under Division 13 of Part 2 of the TCPSS Act where the carrier’s levy contribution factor for the most recent eligible revenue assessment is less than 1%; 

(b)       a carrier in relation to which the ACA has not made an assessment of its eligible revenue for an eligible revenue period under Division 13 of Part 2 of the TCPSS Act where:

(i) the carrier’s estimated eligible revenue is less than 1% of the sum total of the eligible revenue for the most recent eligible revenue period; or

(ii) the carrier’s estimated annual capital expenditure is less than $20,000,000;

(c)        a carrier that is primarily engaged in the direct provision of carriage services to tertiary education institutions, research institutions, schools or other educational and/or research institutions or establishments.

Where a carrier is a declared kind of carrier because of the operation of paragraph (a) or (b) of this Declaration, the carrier will be deemed to continue to be a declared kind of carrier for the purposes of clause 5 of Schedule 1 to the Act for a period of six months from the date on which the carrier receives notification from the ACA that its levy contribution factor is greater than or equal to 1%.

In this Declaration:

ACA means the Australian Communications Authority.

carriage service has the same meaning as in the Act.

carrier means the holder of a carrier licence under the Act.

eligible revenue has the meaning given by section 20B of the TCPSS Act.

eligible revenue period has the meaning given by section 20C of the TCPSS Act.

estimated eligible revenue means the projected eligible revenue of a carrier as advised by the carrier to the ACA in respect of the first financial year of its operations as a carrier under the Act.

levy contribution factor has the meaning given by section 20H of the TCPSS Act.

most recent eligible revenue assessment means the assessment most recently made by the ACA under section 20F of the TCPSS Act.

participating person for an eligible revenue period has the meaning given by section 20A of TCPPS Act.

school means a school or similar institution at which full-time primary education or full‑time secondary education, or both, is provided and which is accepted for registration as a school by a State or Territory.

sum total of the eligible revenue means the total of the eligible revenue of all participating persons assessed by the ACA under section 20F of the TCPSS Act for the most recent eligible revenue period.

TCPSS Act means the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999.

tertiary education institution has the meaning given by subsection 23(11) of the Act.

Dated 30 August 2004

HELEN COONAN

Minister for Communications,

Information Technology and the Arts