G9 becomes TERRiA, barks about structural separation

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 21 May 2008 15:15

IT Industry - Strategy

Egan said all of the companies in the TERRiA consortium were committed to structural separation. "Over the next few weeks, TERRiA will finalise a competitive broadband model where the vested interests of individual companies are structurally separated to protect the consumer. This model will include details of board membership, management, operations, accountability and ultimate ownership...TERRiA's NBN model is designed to ensure that the new network is properly structured from the start, providing an equal, accessible and affordable platform for all users.

Egan said fair and open access to monopoly infrastructure was a key plank of Australia's National Competition Policy. "I've got no doubt that if national competition reform had preceded, rather than followed, the telecommunications 'reforms' of the early 1990s, the structure of Australia's telecommunications industry would now be completely different and would be delivering better services at lower prices. The mistake in the early 1990s was in leaving in place a structure where new telecommunications entrants were left largely at the mercy of the market dominant Telstra.

"Australia can't afford the same mistake being made again which is what will happen if Telstra is allowed to roll out another national network without separating its anticompetitive commercial interests. This time we need a genuinely level playing field that allows open competition among all companies using the common monopoly infrastructure. That will only happen if there is a structure that is pro-competition. A structure where one provider cannot exercise its dominance in multiple markets to inflate prices and restrict customer access to new, innovative services."