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Telstra broadband plan ‘illusion’ – ACCC

By mike, Jun 15 in blog with 0 comments

Telstra’s original broadband proposal was an ‘illusion’ that could never have worked, the boss of the national competition watchdog says.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Graeme Samuel said Telstra’s proposal for a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) broadband network, or fibre to the street corner, was never going to work.

‘I can now summarise that 2006 proposal which Telstra unilaterally abandoned midway through talks with us as an illusion,’ he said in his last appearance as ACCC chairman at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

‘It was an illusion on cost and on the capacity to truly deliver high-speed broadband to end users.’

In 2005, Telstra planned to upgrade its ageing copper network with a FTTN network but dropped the proposal following ‘an impasse’ with the ACCC a year later.

Debate during the past two years gave the nation an opportunity to create a more competitive communications sector, Mr Samuel said.

The federal government is in the early stages of building a $35.9 billion fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) national broadband network, through NBN Co, to serve 93 per cent of Australians.

The NBN would replace Telstra’s ADSL and ADSL2 copper network with optical fibres.

‘That foundation is based on getting the industry structural settings right and ensuring the regulatory settings in the transition to the NBN deliver to improve competition in the short term as well,’ he said.

‘Over coming months, the ACCC will be responsible for assessing key proposed undertakings for both Telstra and NBN Co on the way forward.

‘The challenge for the ACCC is to ensure that we play our role in setting in concrete lasting foundations for vigorous telecommunications competition in concrete, not in quicksand.’

About the author

Mike Andrew has been working with the Internet and small business for over 12 years. Mike has been a keynote speaker at conventions and seminars and conducted social media training sessions all over the world. Mike has an extensive media background having worked in electronic media for over 30 years. Mike specialises in social media and Internet marketing strategy, SEO techniques and search engine marketing campaigns. His articles appear on numerous blogs around the web as well as national magazines.