Starlink's rise draws more ACCC attention

Starlink’s rising customer numbers in Australia has the competition watchdog wanting regular updates on its subscriber growth.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) wants to bring Starlink under the internet activity record keeping rule (RKR) it introduced in 2018.

The RKR is a data collection mechanism that applies to telcos, which was brought in when the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) wound up its own collection of broadband subscriber and usage stats.

In a brief discussion paper, the ACCC noted that Starlink had grown to a customer base of “more than 200,000 services” in March this year, making it a “significant supplier” of satellite internet.

“Starlink has a customer base that is growing quickly as consumers transition from legacy Telstra DSL services (particularly in regional and remote areas); existing geostationary satellite services (including NBN satellite services), and current USO [universal services obligation] services delivered by copper technologies,” the ACCC said.

“This growth is likely to continue as USO services delivered over Telstra copper shift to newer technologies. The ACCC notes that Telstra has recently started to resell Starlink services.

“The ACCC considers that the inclusion of Starlink as a reporting entity would provide the ACCC with a more accurate picture of the market for retail and wholesale broadband services in Australia and assist it in administering a range of regulatory functions and responsibilities.”

In a related proposed change, the ACCC said it also wanted to track the resale of LEOsat-based services.

The ACCC said it will accept submissions on the proposals until the end of this month, and hopes to issue an amended RKR in September.