Convergence Review may be doomed to failure, says IBES

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 15 June 2011 17:17

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

A report prepared by the Melbourne University's Institute for the Broadband Enabled Society (IBES) for Communications Alliance says that the Government's Converge Review Committee may be hamstrung by its own framework.

The report, prepared by IBES's Dr Thomas Apperley, is the result of interviews with 26 professionals in key positions in the telecoms and media industries. It says the findings from these interviews "suggest that the framework in which the Convergence Review has been set may limit the capacity of the Committee to advise Government on the a policy framework that can cope with the demands of the rapidly changing convergent environment."

It contends that while there is a strong consensus that the review is timely and appropriate, "there is also a common concern that any resulting policy framework should be based on principles that are both appropriate for the convergent environment and sufficiently flexible to cope with its dynamism."

According to the report: "Many industry professionals are sceptical about the directions that the terms of reference provide the Committee because they believe this will impede the thoroughness of the deliberations."

However the Government can hardly be accused of imposing the review on the industry. It issued draft terms of reference for public comment and received over 130 submissions. After finalising the terms of reference, the committee issued a framing paper inviting further submissions. The comment period ended 10 June and the Committee has been progressively posting these on its web site.

It now plans to release, in late June, an 'Emerging Issues paper' reflecting submissions to the Framing Paper. It will then conduct hearings in July followed and release detailed discussion papers in August. It is due to release its final report in March 2012.

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