An alliance of telecommunications companies has demanded the federal government and competition watchdog review Telstra’s sector dominance to boost competition in the phone and internet market.

The Competitive Carriers’ Coalition says consumers won’t benefit fully from the National Broadband Network without a review of communications policy.

Vodafone Australia chief executive Bill Morrow, a member of the group, has called for the federal government to enforce sharing of mobile network infrastructure in regional and remote areas to relieve smaller carriers of the cost of building new phone towers.

iiNet boss Michael Malone said the cost of wholesale access to Telstra’s network for competitors was disadvantaging consumers, who would benefit if carriers were forced to compete on customer service alone.

The Carriers’ Coalition said despite major advances – the building of the NBN, ubiquitous broadband and cloud computing – Telstra retained dominant market power that allowed it to “resist many of the forces reshaping the industry in other parts of the world”.

The Competitive Carriers’ Coalition represents Vodafone Australia, Macquarie Telecom, iiNet, AAPT, Adam Internet and Nextgen.