It's 'Terria Firma' as consortium members vow "rock solid" support

By Stuart Corner
Monday, 27 October 2008 11:04

Strategy

The CEOs of the remaining five members of the one-time eight-member Terria consortium planning to bid for Australia's National Broadband Network have confirmed their 'rock solid' support for Terria.

The CEOs are of: Primus Telecom (Ravi Bhatia), Optus (Paul O'Sullivan), Macquarie Telecom (David Tudehope), Internode (Simon Hackett) and iiNet (Michael Malone).

Their united front appears designed to dispel any suggestions that, after losing three members - AAPT, Soul and now TransACT, Terria is on the verge of collapse. Certainly this is a view that Telstra is doing its best to foster.

In a statement the CEOs said: that the Terria was bid was "vital for ensuring that Australians had the benefits of a world-class, competitive and affordable telecommunications and internet service."

"Obviously, each of our companies also has a commercial interest in being able to compete in fixed line voice and Internet services. But more importantly, consumers will be denied the benefits of competition if Telstra's proposals for a vertically integrated, regulation-free network are accepted...While Telstra pays lip-service to the need for open access, it refuses to accept any of the conditions necessary for an assured open access network."

They claimed that, "If Telstra gets its way, competition in fixed line services is as dead as a door nail. Telstra's intention is to re-monopolise the industry and destroy competition."
 
"TERRiA, on the other hand, is proposing a structurally separated, independent, open access network that continues to be regulated by the ACCC - in other words, a network that encourages robust competition among both upstream and downstream users for the benefit of all Australians."