Praise all round (almost) for Government's new telecoms strategy

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 07 April 2009 11:03

IT Industry - Strategy

He also did not think Telstra had much chance of fighting back using Next G and its HFC network. "The discussion paper [on regulatory reform] is canvassing putting spectrum caps on Telstra and forcing them to sell their HFC network."

Primus Telecom, iiNet and Macquarie Telecom - all members of the Optus led Terria consortium that more or less dissolved at the 11th hour leaving Optus as the main respondent to the NBN RFP were all equally ecstatic.

Matt Healy, Macquarie's national executive regulatory and government, said: "We applaud the Government's decision to seriously consider implementing wide-ranging reforms to the telecommunications sector as a matter of urgency...This has the potential to be the most significant change this industry has seen since deregulation in 1997. And just as deregulation kick started competition, today's announcements have the right ingredients to set a solid foundation for a truly competitive 21st century telecommunications industry."

However he seems to have been overly optimistic in predicting that "By next year we will see a brand new network, the envy of other economies."

Primus CEO Ravi Bhatia, said: "If you consider the list of issues identified by the Government [in its regulatory reform discussion paper], it is clear the Government is serious about addressing Telstra's stranglehold and unlocking the competitive potential of the industry. As an industry we have been arguing for better competitive rights and raising many of these issues for some time now so it's satisfying to see a Government with the courage to deliver on the competition rhetoric and take these issues on."

iiNet managing director, Michael Malone, said: "This is the best of all possible outcomes and will ensure Australians have access to fast, affordable and competitive broadband. In terms of the key criteria we were looking for in a National Broadband Network - open access, structural separation, fixing backhaul 'black spots' and regulatory reform - the Government has delivered."

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