Telstra's UK 'expert' all "false assumptions and bias" says T4

Stuart Corner
Friday, 29 August 2008 04:34

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Are you aware that the Australian regulator, the ACCC, has said that operational separation in Australia has not worked, and that it has investigated several instances of Telstra discrimination in contradiction to the intention of the operational separation principles, without being able to stop it?
 
Are you aware that there are more disputes between Telstra and its competitors before the courts and the ACCC than ever before, and that these disputes centre on price and non-price discrimination issues?
 
How much has Telstra paid you for your report and visits to Australia? Why do you think it would do that, and why in those circumstances would you not seek to speak to competitors before drawing conclusions about Telstra treatment of its competitors?
 
When you were running Ofcom, if an Australian consultant for BT came to you with a report that said there was no competition problem in the UK, but admitted he had never spoken to competitors, would you have taken him seriously?
 
The Australian Government proposes to provide $4.7 billion of taxpayer funding to assist the roll-out of a National Broadband Network. This network will face limited infrastructure based competition. In these circumstances, do you think Telstra's proposal that such a network should face a much lighter form of regulation than we have today is appropriate?