Spreading FUD on broadband regulation

Stuart Corner
Friday, 08 February 2008 07:54

Opinion and Analysis

In the doublespeak of telecommunications politics "no compelling case" to regulate ADSL means it might be imminent and "it is unlikely there is a need to regulate" means "no way will there be regulation". Welcome to the brave new world of ALP telecoms regulation, or Telstra spin-doctoring. Take your pick! But this is no joking matter. The burning question that must be on the lips of every major competitor to Telstra today is: "has the government done a secret deal with Telstra to guarantee there will be no regulated access to its ADSL2+ service?"  If you listen to what Telstra group general counsel, Will Irving, is saying in this podcast posted on Telstra's Nowwearetalking website, the answer is unequivocally 'yes'. If you take Government public statements at face value, the answer is categorically No: nothing has changed.

If a secret deal has been done, that's bad. If it hasn't, the uncertainty created by the mere suggestion that it has is equally bad. Either way, the Government needs to stand up and set the record straight.

In an extraordinary piece of doublethink Irving has interpreted almost identical statements from ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel as meaning the exact opposite of each other.

Irving said: "For 18 months now the ACCC has been making statements that it saw 'no compelling case at this time' to regulate ADSL2. Now for those who watch Yes Minister or hear a lot of political speech the phrase 'no compelling case' could be interpreted as 'we think we have got a pretty good case and we are just around the corner from doing something'. Clearly that kind of language is not enough for anyone to make multimillion dollar investment decisions."

He then went on to say: "Two things have changed. First the ACCC has changed its position and Mr Samuel now says he considers it unlikely there is a need to regulate... And second is that the government, from the minister, very formally, issued a letter confirming the ACCC's new position and confirming the government's view that it agrees."