[LINK] Regional Telecomms Hearings

[Roger Clarke]

There's an ad in at least the SMH today, calling for Submissions to 
the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee.

I was surprised to find that there was no apparent mention of it on 
link (and hardly any on iamems either).

Issues Paper (2MB of PDF):
http://www.rtirc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2011-12_Regional_Telecommunications_Review_issues_paper_web.pdf

The alternative is 1.7MB of RTF, which is good in a standards sense, 
but maybe not so good if anyone's still on an effective, say, 128Kbps.

3 of the 18 regional consultations have already happened:
http://www.rtirc.gov.au/regional-consultations/

But if there have been similar processes twice before (2002, 2008), 
maybe people don't think much will come of it?
http://www.rtirc.gov.au/previous-regional-telecommunications-reviews-2/


The 2011-12 Regional Telecommunications Review seeks to build upon 
the progress achieved since the 2008 review. In doing so, the 
Minister has asked the committee to have particular regard for the 
opportunities that the NBN creates for the emerging digital economy 
to improve the delivery of:
  > health and education outcomes
  > business efficiencies and opportunities
  > growth in local economies
  > government services and programs, including local government services

The committee is also interested in other telecommunications issues 
that are important to
regional, rural and remote communities. These include:
  > the communications needs of Indigenous Australians, particularly 
those that live in rural and
remote communities
  > developments in the terrestrial and satellite mobile phone sector
  > the consumer concerns of people and businesses in regional, rural 
and remote Australia.

The committee's approach to the 2011-12 RTR is to take a snapshot of 
current service availability in
different areas and to look to the future to identify what further 
steps are needed for regional Australia to progressively take 
advantage of improved broadband services, including those which will 
become available as the NBN is deployed.

The committee is keen to learn from the experiences of consumers, 
businesses, agencies and organisations using telecommunications 
services in regional Australia.


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University