This report released in April 1994, provides a contribution to the public discussion of ways to develop a more consistent approach to the definition, costing and funding of Community Service Obligations (CSOs). It recognises that governments have chosen to take different approaches to these issues and aims to develop the basis for a more broadly agreed approach between jurisdictions.

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Community Service Obligations: Some Definitional, Costing and Funding Issues (PDF 2.7 MB)

Contents

Preliminaries
Cover, Copyright, Preface, Contents, Executive Summary

1   Introduction

2   Defining CSOs
2.1   A Government Directive to a GTE
2.2   A Non-commercial Activity
2.3 Social Policy Objective
2.4   Proposed definition

3   Measurement Benchmarks
3.1   Marginal Cost
3.2   Fully Distributed Costs
3.3   Avoidable Costs
3.4   Stand-alone Cost
3.5   Conclusion

4   Complications and Qualifications
4.1   Cost-padding in GTEs
4.2   Peak-load Capacity
4.3   Decreasing Costs
4.4   Capacity Utilisation

5   Examples of Methodologies
5.1   BTCE
5.2   Telecom
5.3   Australia Post

6   Funding CSOs
6.1   Cross-subsidies
6.2   Levies on users
6.3   Direct cash transfers to consumers
6.4   Direct funding of enterprises
6.5   Accepting lower rates of return

7   Conclusions

8   Recommendations

Attachment: Some CSO Definitions

Bibliography

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