Australia's national fibre backbone will need open wholesale access and government funding, and must be built on neutral technology, according to telecommunications leaders.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has proposed a $4.8 billion Fibre-to-the-Node (FttN) network which would be funded with an additional $4 billion from the private sector. The network would be open-access and offer wholesale-priced access to competitors.
This proposal has received heavy criticism from telecommunications providers, notably Telstra, because they believe wholesale access and regulation will destroy shareholder value.
Australian Telecommunications User Group (ATUG) CEO Rosemary Sinclair said Australia's national fibre network will fail if it is not funded at least in part by the government.
Open access is critical but it is only effective if it means true equivalence
"Part of a national broadband network will need to be funded by government [because] competitive markets for communications services in Australia will not develop without government funding beyond major metro areas," Sinclair said.
"Open access is critical but it is only effective if it means true equivalence. As the argument between Telstra and the 10 ISPs indicates, a considerable number of companies using the current access provisions do not believe they are really getting equivalent access.
"Experience around the world now is indicating open access works. Incumbent operators don't like it but 'born wholesale' models are working well."
The industry unanimously agrees the network must be open-access, according to Communications Alliance CEO Anne Hurley, because it promotes competition, generates revenue for the infrastructure incumbent and maximizes the value of the network.
She said the Communications Alliance has been involved in several "high-level" discussions about the fundamentals of next-generation telecommunications, including the FttN network, the Universal Service Obligation (USO), and digital broadcasting.
"We have submitted many papers to the government and the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) about what fundamentals should form the next generation of telecommunications," Hurley said.
"[The network] will need to be open-access and technology neutral which is something that the Alliance has come to after a lot of consultations with industry and government."
Hurley refused to discuss whether the network should be fully government owned, partially funded, or left to the private enterprise, nor could she say whether regulating wholesale access would deter private investment or how the unconditioned local loop (ULL) would be affected in an FttN network.
Under the $3.6 billion Optus-led G9 consortium FttN proposal, dubbed the Special Access Undertaking (SAC), capital cities will be the first to receive fibre with speeds up to 24Mbps. Priority will be given to regional areas which do not currently receive ADSL.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Keeping your SQL Server Going 24x7
Understanding Email Marketing: A Guide for SMBs
The business justification for data security
Reducing the risk of insider abuse
Customer Experience Management: Improving the Consistency and Quality of Customer Interactions
How to Beef Up Your Sales Pipeline
Top 10 Ways to Increase IT ROI Without Adding Staff
Business Processes and Customers - Difficult Domains to Integrate
Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.
Comments
Telstra needs to be split
We have structural separation of the big telco incumbents in the UK with BT and big things in Singapore. Telstra needs to be separated - it was given OUR copper lines for free; copper paid for by our tax dollars and now we are at ransom. BS.
Should have happened at deregulation
The government should have taken control of all comms infrastructure when the market was "deregulated" ten years ago. With the Big T just another wholesaler there would be true competition.
Post new comment