What if Australia held a broadband party and nobody came?

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 21 October 2008 18:22

Opinion and Analysis

He's out by the best part of decade. Competition started in the mid 80s with the launch of the Australian satellite company, Aussat. Or rather it should have started. The monopoly power of Telstra (Telecom as it them was) ensured that Aussat was crippled from birth.

So when Aussat came to be sold as the core of the second carrier license in the early nineties what should have been a competitive bidding process turned into a one horse race because Aussat was virtually bankrupt and unattractive.

Fast forward a few years to the attempt by Optus to really get a foothold in the fixed telecoms market with its HFC network. This was stymied by Telstra which followed Optus down the same streets with its own HFC network which the government sat watching from the sidelines.

For goodness sake, don't let it happen again. The Government needs to step back, determine what kind of broadband Australia really needs, and when, and to then decide what is the most appropriate regulatory regime to deliver this.

Then the bidders for any broadband network will know exactly what they are bidding on and won't be able to try and bully the government into rewriting the rules on the fly.