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Telecommunications Labor's $4.7b broadband vision 12Mbps for (almost) everybody
Telecommunications Labor's $4.7b broadband vision 12Mbps for (almost) everybody | Labor's $4.7b broadband vision 12Mbps for (almost) everybody |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Wednesday, 21 March 2007 | |
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Conroy indicated that a Labor Government would be prepared to put in place regulatory changes that would avoid overbuild of duplicate networks by facilitating the rollout of one open access network. "Labor recognises the need for regulatory reforms to facilitate the roll out of a national fibre to the node network. Labor is absolutely committed to competition in the Australian telecommunications sector however in a fibre to the node world we need new regulatory structures to deliver competitive outcomes. Labor believes in delivering outcomes for the telecommunications sector, not mindlessly clinging to the regulations of the past. An FTTN network that ensured genuine open access to bottleneck infrastructure and scope for access seekers to differentiate their retail product offerings would clearly be in the national interest. However, such a proposal cannot proceed in Australia under the current regulatory regime. "There are currently two competing proposals for the roll out of a FTTN in Australia [Telstra's and the G9]. Neither proposal can proceed without regulatory reform. Neither proposal can provide rural and regional Australians with access to a fibre to the node network without government investment. In this context, government leadership is needed. That's why today I announce that a Rudd Labor government will deliver the regulatory reforms necessary to deliver a national open access fibre to the node network." Once elected, a Rudd Labor government would call on parties interested in constructing a national FTTN network to detail their investment plans and to specify the regulatory reforms necessary to facilitate such an investment. A prerequisite for all proposals for regulatory reform to facilitate a FTTN network would be that the parties accept regulated open access to bottleneck infrastructure. Conroy said that genuine open access in a FTTN world would require: equivalence of access charges; and full scope for access seekers to differentiate their product offerings by allowing customisations of access speeds, quality of services and contention ratios. "Regulated access prices for such a network would be set at a level ensuring that the investment's costs can be recovered and a commercial return can be made." Conroy said that Labor Caucus had endorsed the necessary changes to the ALP platform to allow the proposal to go ahead under a Labor government subject to ratification at this year's ALP national conference.{moscomment}
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