"The purpose of access obligations is to encourage downstream competition for the benefit of consumers. The failure to comply with those obligations impedes that competition and therefore harms consumers." Today, the court found that Telstra had contravened standard access obligations to permit interconnection of facilities to enable the supply of the ULLS and the LSS to access seekers. The court also declared that Telstra had breached an access regime in the Telecommunications Act 1997 which requires Telstra to provide access to its facilities. Both the standard access obligations and the access regime in the Telecommunications Act are conditions of Telstra's carrier licence. "In this case, the conduct occurred during a critical time of DSL based broadband growth. Telstra had both the incentive, and the ability, to prevent access seekers from deploying their own equipment," Mr Samuel said. "The ACCC will continue to vigorously pursue high penalties against corporations that break the law," Mr Samuel warned.