|
Telecoms consultant calls for level fibre optic playing field for the Australian broadband TV marketplace
As competitors prepare to unleash broadband TV in Australia, it’s clear that Telstra, the incumbent national carrier, holds a great deal of power in the equation. In July, Melbourne-based Allen Consulting Group released the report A Competitive Model for National Broadband Upgrade, which states that the major incumbent carrier, Telstra, wants two tiers of broadband providers, itself as monopoly provider of Fibre to the Node, and all others, creating an unfair monopoly advantage for Telstra. The report also finds that, in contrast with other countries, broadband penetration remains low, prices are too high and available bandwidth is very low - largely due to the lack of competition in the Australian broadband market. The report suggests an alternative whereby AAPT, iiNet, Internode, Macquarie Telecom, Optus, Powertel, Primus, Soul and TransACT can compete on a level fibre optic playing field. Although Telstra proposes a FTTN network with 12Mbps bandwidth to four million homes and businesses in five major cities, Allen Group believes that the network should reach many more. In addition, the report proposes that Telstra enter into collaborations with fixed-line competitors and carry out decision-making on a joint basis, rather than act as a barrier to progress in support of its own agenda. Report by Steve Hawley More on Australia in our June issue (p3 ‘Higher speed broadband boosts Australian IPTV but Telstra tries to balance network and content role’) and July (p6 ‘Growing number of service providers offer IPTV alternatives’). |
Features 
