Tasmanian Government strangling the Internet?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 05 May 2008 17:41

IT Industry - Strategy

Greens MP McKim said “that the fibre optic cable laid with Basslink must be opened up to carry data as a first step towards improving the situation”.

McKim proposed that:

- The State government and Aurora Energy immediately prioritise negotiations with CitySpring to enable the Basslink fibre cable to compete with Telstra in backhaul services across Bass Strait;

- The Federal government act to improve backhaul competition across Bass Strait after Senator Stephen Conroy’s cancellation of the OPEL plan;

- The State government explain why the commercialisation of the Basslink fibre has taken so long, and disclose the details of the current commercial arrangements with CitySpring;

- The ACCC step in and ensure that backhaul pricing across Bass Strait is set in line with other areas in Australia.

Mr McKim also said that the OPEL proposal would have resulted in more fibre across Bass Strait, and called on Federal Minister Senator Stephen Conroy to act to address the problem.

“OPEL was going to improve the situation by increasing competition across Bass Strait, and as Senator Conroy has canned that option he should now let Tasmanians know exactly what he is going to do to bail the incompetent state government out of the mess they have got Tasmanian broadband consumers into.”