The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has authorised the agreement between NBN Co and Optus for the migration of the latter's HFC subscribers to the National Broadband Network (NBN) and the decommissioning of parts of Optus' HFC network. This decision confirms a draft decision issued by the regulator in May this year. The ACCC concluded that if it did not grant authorisation, competition between the HFC and the NBN would be unlikely to endure in the long term. In addition, the NBN's terms and conditions of supply will be regulated regardless of any competition from the HFC. Optus said it expects the large-scale migration of customers to NBN infrastructure will commence in 2014, with payments from NBN Co to be received progressively on customer migration. The programme is expected to be completed by 2018. Optus will continue to supply services to customers using its HFC network until the NBN is built and customers have been migrated.
