Stuart Corner
Monday, 18 June 2007 18:00
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
This will surely be a tender process the likes of which we have never seen: even before it is out the buyer is touting the claims of the two principal bidders, and giving one pre-eminence over the other.
The statement goes on to say: "The Australian Government has always maintained that Australia must have a new high speed broadband network and that it was always a question of 'when' and not 'if'."
Utter boloney. The idea of such a network was not even on the Government's radar until Telstra, in August 2005 shortly after Sol Trujillo took the reins, put to cabinet ministers the idea that Telstra would install fibre to the curb to boost broadband services to over 80 percent of Australians at a cost of $2.6 billion, if the Government would tip in another $3.1 billion to upgrade broadband services to most of the remainder, and give the network protection from access regulations.
And how did the Government react to that? Here is what Coonan said a week later in an address to The Sydney Institute.
"Telstra proposed a $5.7 billion network upgrade, the cost to be shared with Government, conditional upon an immediate wind-back of specific telecommunications access and competition regulation and abolition of telco specific regulation within three years.
"Rather than adopt this approach, the Government has pursued the approach that has been proven to deliver benefits to consumers:
allowing the market to compete and deliver services in commercial areas of the market; investing taxpayer's dollars responsibly- and only doing so in response to market failure; not picking technologies; and not picking any particular provider.
As recently as late 2006, in its 'Broadband Blueprint' the Government said: "The critical next step for broadband development in Australia is for the Australian Government to work closely with state, territory and local governments to streamline initiatives to encourage coordinated investment in next generation broadband infrastructure.
"A coordinated effort across all jurisdictions based on complementary roles for Australian, state, territory and local governments, is important to maximise the incentive for investment in next generation broadband infrastructure to avoid duplication and to maximise value for taxpayers.
