Telstra urges Senate to delay NBN debate

James Riley
Friday, 09 October 2009 08:54

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Telstra has come out swinging in its submission into the Senate inquiry into regulatory reform, urging the Senate to delay debate on National Broadband Network until after the Government's implementation study is complete.

In a document that begins with a statement of support for Stephen Conroy's National Broadband Network, Telstra then takes apart the reform legislation, saying it will impede the NBN vision, reduce competition, harm consumers and destroy shareholder value.

And the company has called on the Senate to delay any debate about the proposed reforms until after Telstra has completed its "constructive discussions" with Government on the NBN – and, importantly, until after the completion of the NBN implementation study.

"Telstra has no choice but to oppose the passage of the Bill in its current form,” Telstra chief executive David Thodey said in a statement.

"If the Government decides to proceed with the Bill, we believe that it is only sensible that the Senate delay debate until after the conclusion of constructive discussions between Telstra and the Government over the NBN and the completion of the Government’s NBN Implementation Study," he said.

"We would also urge that significant amendments are made to the Bill."

The Telstra submission says the reform Bill “is premised on the erroneous assumption” that competition has failed and that Telstra’s vertical integration was the cause of that failure.

If there is market failure in the telecommunications industry, Telstra blames lack of capital investment – an area it says it dominates.

"In the five years to June 2009, Telstra made capital investments totalling more than $23 billion. That equates to 70% of all capital investment for the telecommunications sector," the company said.

"To put that in proportion, Telstra has a 62% share of the market, but it is ploughing far more than its share back into capital to meet the future needs of the market."

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