[LINK] Self-regulation failure forces Conroy to lay down NBN law

[Roger Clarke]

At 9:09 +1100 19/12/08, David Boxall wrote:
>A near-monopoly tries to prevent competition.  What a surprise.
><http://www.itnews.com.au/News/91373,self-regulation-failure-forces-conroy-to-lay-down-nbn-law.aspx>
>>  Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has criticised the
>>  Australian telecommunications sector for its inability to 'cooperate,
>>  have a discussion or reach a common position' on the NBN - or
>>  anything else of importance.
>...
>>  ... David Kennedy, a research director at Ovum Research, said ...

David was an Asst Secy variously in AGIMO and what is currently BCDE, 
for quite some years.

Passing what he's written through the Canberra writing-style 
de-filtering process, he's actually been quite blunt and practical.

I do get the feeling that a great deal of the country is now becoming 
aligned with the notion that the deepest layer of infrastructure 
(what we used to call 'the copper') needs to be managed as a national 
resource.

(But someone will have to invent some term other than 'structural 
separation', and make it seem like a new idea that no-one had thought 
of before).


>>  "What we've actually seen evolve is a standoff between Telstra and
>>  the rest of the industry, with the ACCC and sometimes the Minister
>>  called in as referees," said Kennedy.
>>
>>  "The polarisation is between Telstra and the rest. It's been very
>>  hard for those two groups to form consensus on issues because they
>>  are diametrically opposed on them generally."
>>
>>  Kennedy also said that despite Telstra's exclusion from the RFP
>>  process, it would be impossible to keep them fully out of the NBN.
>>
>>  "I think they have to be involved in final arrangements in some way
>>  if only because any alternative bidder would still have to use
>>  Telstra's copper," said Kennedy.
>...
>--
>David Boxall                    |  Dogs look up to us
>                                  |  And cats look down on us
>                                  |  But pigs treat us as equals
>                                                    --Winston Churchill
>
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-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
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