Written by:uanmiTuesday, December 04, 2007
The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is now in Government in Australia. Today Telstra has upped the rhetoric in its campaign to roll the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and to force the new Government to remove regulations preventing Telstra from setting the price for competitors to access infrastructure. Is the ALP about to cave in to Telstra's demands?How can the ALP pull a rabbit out of the hat on this core election promise? Someone has forgotten to tell the new Government that Telstra owns the exchanges and copper that would be at either end of a Fibre to the Node (FTTN) rollout. Telstra is demanding roughly four times the price per customer that the ACCC has indicated is a fair price to charge competitors using Telstra's infrastrusture. Telstra has also stated that they will not be a part of any public/private venture to rollout FTTN. The ALP has been insisting for months prior to the election that they would be able to get Telstra to do what they want without caving in to Telstra's demands to deregulate and remove the ACCC's price arbitration power. Has the ALP been misleading the public even with the best intentions (to win the election)?The outcome of this battle between Telstra and the ALP promises to be the biggest magic trick or the biggest cave in by an Australian Government in Australia's short history. At present, Telstra holds all the cards. They own the infrastructure due to very poor decision making by the former Liberal Government and can simply put pressure on the new Government by doing nothing.What will happen next is going to be fascinating and everyone is holding their breath.regards, Mark
The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is now in Government in Australia. Today Telstra has upped the rhetoric in its campaign to roll the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and to force the new Government to remove regulations preventing Telstra from setting the price for competitors to access infrastructure. Is the ALP about to cave in to Telstra's demands?
How can the ALP pull a rabbit out of the hat on this core election promise? Someone has forgotten to tell the new Government that Telstra owns the exchanges and copper that would be at either end of a Fibre to the Node (FTTN) rollout. Telstra is demanding roughly four times the price per customer that the ACCC has indicated is a fair price to charge competitors using Telstra's infrastrusture. Telstra has also stated that they will not be a part of any public/private venture to rollout FTTN. The ALP has been insisting for months prior to the election that they would be able to get Telstra to do what they want without caving in to Telstra's demands to deregulate and remove the ACCC's price arbitration power. Has the ALP been misleading the public even with the best intentions (to win the election)?
The outcome of this battle between Telstra and the ALP promises to be the biggest magic trick or the biggest cave in by an Australian Government in Australia's short history. At present, Telstra holds all the cards. They own the infrastructure due to very poor decision making by the former Liberal Government and can simply put pressure on the new Government by doing nothing.
What will happen next is going to be fascinating and everyone is holding their breath.
regards, Mark
Copyright ©2007 Mark Gregory
0 comments so far...