Broadband war of words heats up

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 25 March 2007 17:27

Opinion and Analysis

However for Coonan to claim any credit for this is somewhat disingenuous. There are only two such projects in the offing, neither the result of any government action or initiative: Telstra's FTTN proposal, very publicly put on hold indefinitely by Telstra, and the G9 proposal which is demanding legislated access to Telstra's local loop and legislative protection from overbuild.

Coonan's $1 billion inflation of the ALP's plan for $4.7 million of public funding is relatively modest compared to claims in her press releases where she has accused the ALP of plotting a "$9 billion 'smash and grab' from the Future Fund." This, in fact, is the ALP's upper limit estimate of the total cost: the ALP has given no indication of plans to draw more than $2.7 million from the Future Fund.

The ALP seized on Coonan's ABC comments as proof that the Government had no vision for broadband. Shadow communications minister, Stephen Conroy said: "In saying that Australia's broadband infrastructure is 'OK at the moment, but it won't be in the future', Senator Coonan has admitted that the Howard government has failed to prepare Australia for the future.

Leading industry bodies have weighed into the debate. The Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (AEEMA), appears to strongly favour the ALP's centralised planning approach.

CEO Angus M Robinson, said broadband must be seen in the same light as other essential infrastructure. "In the emerging era of ubiquitous computing and the new information economy, communication infrastructure is a key enabler and should be viewed as another utility alongside water, electricity and gas."

And he called for strong and visionary leadership from the Government. "The recognition that government has a key role to play in leadership, vision and funding is welcomed by industry. Without the support of government, consensus among key industry players is that it is likely to take industry 10 to 15 years to establish the appropriate broadband infrastructure. Regrettably, by then Australia will have missed the opportunity to be at the forefront of software and content development for communications-based industries."

The Australian Computer Society had a bet each way, saying: it "welcomed comments on the need for investment into broadband infrastructure from the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator the Helen Coonan and Shadow Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Senator Stephen Conroy."