Australia - Government Policies - Economic Reform in Telecoms Sector

Synopsis

The future of telecoms competition is under serious threat. Economic Reforms are overdue in a sector where one company dominates 90% of all the profits. Such reforms have been successfully implemented in other utility sectors. It is quite bizarre that the champion of economic reform in Australia, Treasurer Peter Costello, is unwilling to continue this process into the telecoms sector. We have 3 to 6 months in which to influence telecommunications policies. Once the government moves into serious privatisation mode we all might as well take a 3-year regulatory holiday, as it will be impossible to secure any changes during that period.