Telecommunications

Australia is doing something it normally doesn't like doing. Its allowing itself to fall behind the rest of the world. Where once we were in the top 10 for internet takeup and telecommunications, we are now steadily dropping. This is due to a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it is due to a botched public sale of Telstra. In its mad rush to sell off one of the biggest money earners for the federal government, the Coalition has failed to consider the effects of including the physical network in the sale package. Where if the network had been withheld from the sale, and thus still under the control of the government, we would not be in the position we are now, where any move to truly high speed internet access is being held hostage to the commercial wants of the formerly government owned Telstra. Instead we could have a truly free market, where each player has the same power to access the network and development of the network can be done on whats best for the country, rather than whats best for one commercial entity or another.

Secondly we appear to have a government that really doesn't "Get" the internet and its associated issues and possibilities. This also applies to a lesser extent to the opposition, especially with its proposed policy to install a system similar to China's "Great Firewall" by which they will decide what people get to see.

Below I've laid out what I think are the problems facing both the country and the industry.

Availability of High Speed Broadband:

The problem

At the moment, many people cannot access ADSL2+ (with down/up speeds of 24Mbps/1Mpbps) due to older infrastructure in exchanges. Part of the reason for this has been an unwillingness on Telstra's part to upgrade their exchanges so that the required infrastructure can be installed. Moving beyond ADSL. Fibre To The Home (FTTH) is still a very long way away, with arguments abounding at the moment over who should pay for the Fibre To The Node (FTTN) system that would be required to support the FTTH system.

The solution

The government buys back the network and spins it into an independant company with a mandate to manage the network with an aim to maximising access (including the development of the FTTN). This company should have share holding restrictions that ensure that no one company or person has greater than a 5% share. Thats right, instead of persisting with the polite fiction of the seperation of the wholesale and retail units of Telstra, the government needs to take the bull by the horns and do what is in the best interests of the nation. This will allow a truly "level playing field" for the industry and ensure that no one single company can dominate the industry.

Status of the Telecommunications Industry:

The problem:

For a government that nominally supports the concept of a free market, it seems to have taken its eye off the ball on the telecommunications industry. By leaving the transmission network in Telstra's hands, it has handed Telstra a massive tool it can and has used to beat its competition over the head.

The solution:

This problem would be largely solved if the network is made truly independant. Telstra would be reduced to just another player rather than the industry giant that it has become.

Power of the Independant Umpire:

The problem:

There is a school of thought that the ACCC, the independant umpire for the telecommunications industry, needs to be "reigned in". Telstra particularly has been pushing this line.

The solution:

At the very least there needs to be public support for the ACCC. It has been given a job to do - regulating the industry - and should allowed to do so.