Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 05 September 2008 13:02
IT Industry -
Strategy
Page 1 of 2
Driven by a desire to destroy the dimension that is “structural
separation”, Telstra has quoted the curiously named Kip Meek in an
attempt to annihilate any action that would see separation succeed.
Mr Kip Meek, who is the head of the UK Broadband Stakeholders Group, and was previously the OFCOM Commissioner responsible for the separation of British Telecom (BT), has clearly changed his tune on the merits of structural separation.
Telstra says in a press release that Meek told an ITU (International Telecommunication Union) conference in Bangkok “yesterday” that “the current focus on separation in Australia is a distraction and that the real issue was ensuring equivalent access to the network.”
Telstra then quotes Meek saying in teclo newsletter Communication Day that: “If the exam question is, ‘in the context of next generation broadband network being deployed by Telstra, what do you need to do to preserve competition?’, then I wouldn’t start from…a greater degree of separation.
“Where I’d start from is, how is it we can ensure equivalence in the post NBN environment? That was actually what was envisaged in the tender documentation, I think that’s the place conceptually to start from. Government regulators really need to look at it from that perspective.”
Meek is also quoted saying the following on the “impact of separation on investment” that: “If you have completely structurally separated business then that issue of investment coordination, particularly when it comes to new, very risky markets, is a big issue. The further you go down towards structural separation, the more that argument carries weight.”
Well, with such amazing ammo given to it by a previous proponent of separation, Telstra agreed with Meek’s sentiments as quick as two rabbits down a warren turn into hundreds of the furry little fellas, and wheeled out its Executive Director for Regulatory Affairs, Dr Tony Warren, to say so.
He said in a statement that the “growing consensus of regulators and experts around the world that separation doesn’t work demonstrated the need for the regulatory debate in Australia to be refocussed”, and said that Meek’s statements overnight made it clear that “separation is an extreme regulatory response that has no place in the current National Broadband Network (NBN) process.”
Warren (the man, not the rabbit hole) then said that “calls for separation were nothing but a provocation and a distraction as those making them knew that Telstra would not bid if separation was a condition of the network.”
Warren’s comments then multiplied several times more, with the full effect visible on page 2.
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