Last updated: 7 Mar 2011 Update History
Report Status: Archived
Report Pages: 32
Analyst: Paul Budde
Publication Overview
Published since 1983, Australia’s first telecommunications and new media newsletter covers national and international business strategies and government policies in relation to fixed and wireless broadband and other smart infrastructure, the digital economy, digital and mobile media, smart grids, e-health and e-education.
Executive Summary
Conroy has his work cut out for him in February
Sometimes against great odds the Minister for Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy has achieved what nobody before him has done. Remarkable progress has been made – the passing of the regulatory legislation, in particular, was a major milestone.
And over the last few months, in accordance with his added responsibility for Digital Productivity, we have seen good initiatives in e-health, education and smart grids, which clearly demonstrate that the government is prepared to adopt significant reform in these sectors – measures that will lead to a delivery of these services over the national broadband network. However, more will be needed here.
The earlier achievement of clinching a deal with Telstra is another major part of the plan.
But more is needed to secure the future of the NBN, and unfortunately the Opposition – and in particular its leader, Tony Abbott – remains totally opposed to it. This means that if progress is not made over the next few months the Opposition may still be able to derail the NBN at the last minute.
The fact that this will be disastrous, not only for the country but also for Telstra, Optus, Internode, iiNet, Google and everybody else who relies on the digital economy, does not seem to bother the Opposition. Their alternative plans are flawed and they are certainly not in the country’s best interest – regional Australia in particular. And the technologies chosen by them are not going to provide a future-proofing of telecoms infrastructure.
The longer it takes the government to finalise the legislation for the project the more difficult it will be to secure the future of the NBN. Obviously it is also crucial to the Labor government to get the plan going, since the voters will most certainly not return them in the next election if the NBN is still in limbo at that point.
At the same time NBN Co will have to finalise its plans, so that it can go to the industry with firm commitments as to services and prices. Some of this can be clarified as soon as the government approves the business plan that was presented to it in December, but the longer it takes to do this the more difficult it is for NBN Co to make the decisions the industry is waiting for.
Then, of course, there is the NBN Co legislation. Again, without this NBN Co cannot do much. For example, under that legislation it will be given the power of legal entry, which will enable them to enter properties and connect homes to the infrastructure.
Another key development is the approval of Telstra’s transition plans and its acceptance of the government’s offer. Again, until the legislation is finalised, and the details become clear, it will be difficult to obtain shareholder approval for this.
For many of these issues it is now two minutes to midnight, and it is political decisions that are needed on all of them. In other words, the ball is in the Minister’s court to deliver on all of them – not an easy task.
However we have a can-do Minister, who so far has been able to deliver. Also the upcoming decisions are less dramatic than some of the ones that have already been taken, so there is room for hope that the next steps can indeed be made within the next two months.
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