Australia - Broadband - Implementing the Estens initiatives

Synopsis

In mid-2003 the government presented an extensive response to the Estens and BAG reports. The Estens Report recommended government policies to address the telecoms infrastructure problems in regional Australia and the BAG report recommended initiative that would stimulate the roll out of broadband. I have put these developments into perspective, with reference also to analyses that deal more comprehensively with the key issues. They include broadband demand aggregation, future proofing of the network and Telstra’s dominance in the telecoms/cable TV infrastructure market. At the end of the report is an overview of the various new government policies.