Australia - Analysis of the Estens Report

Synopsis

Estens has lobbed the T3 ball squarely into the government’s court. Telstra may be off the hook but Estens has unquestionably pointed the finger at the government. While they subsequently addressed the Report’s thirty-nine Recommendations (23 of which require a government initiative and only 16 a Telstra initiative) the government still refused to come up with both a Strategic Plan and billions of dollars of funding. Up till now the government has refused to take responsibility for the funding of regional telecommunications infrastructure and they have also refused to allocate money from T3 towards such a fund.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Half of recommendations implemented – December 2004
• 3. Government response to the report – 2003
• 4. Results of the enquiry – early 2003
• 5. Telstra off the hook
• 6. Broadbanding is the message
• 7. No leadership from the government
• 8. Massive task ahead
• 9. Estens subsidy scheme very complex
• 10. Innovation through competition
• 11. Longer-term security
• 12. Regional equality
• 13. The Estens inquiry (Terms of Reference)

• Exhibit 1 – Strategic Regional Telecommunications Plan