THE competition watchdog has drawn the ire of Telstra's rivals, after it decided to put a freeze on the price of accessing the telco giant's copper access network.

The prices will be frozen until December next year while the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission conducts a review of the prices Telstra charges its competitors for wholesale access to its copper network.

Telstra's competitors, such as Optus, Macquarie Telecom and iiNet, access the telco's copper network to provide fixed voice and broadband services, The Australian reported.

"This is a critical review of pricing principles which have been in place since 1997. Since this time, the telecommunications regulatory, technological and competitive landscape have and continue to evolve, and a review is timely," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said in a statement. "It will draw a line in the sand and address the pricing principles afresh for the new environment."

The pricing guidelines have been in place since Telstra's privatisation in 1997 and have caused much consternation in the telecoms sector.

For years, Telstra's competitors have argued that the pricing determinations are too high, while Telstra has argued that the costs involved in building and maintaining its network should equate to higher prices for access seekers.

"This is a sensible decision. It enables the important next steps to achieve regulatory certainty in the longer term," Telstra head of regulatory affairs Jane van Beelen said.

But Telstra's rivals were less than receptive of the decision. "While the ACCC continues to navel gaze, the industry is sinking in quicksand," Macquarie Telecom head of regulatory and government affairs Matt Healy said.

"It is bizarre that just as regulatory reform stalls in the Senate, the regulator decides to shelve its long-planned improvements to pricing access to Telstra's monopoly network. Competitors and consumers are forced to live in the past and are denied a digital `today', let alone the NBN future."

The Competitive Carriers' Coalition described the ACCC's pricing freeze as "a grave indictment of the commission and the regulatory framework".

"The ACCC has in the past two years repeatedly said that it believes Telstra's prices for basic wholesale services are too high and that it -- the commission -- has contributed to this by not basing its wholesale price guidance on what it costs Telstra to provide the services," CCC executive director David Forman said.

"Consumers will likely suffer both increases in retail prices and a further loss of competitive choices as a result of the commission's failure of courage."