[LINK] Productivity Commission recommends that government scrap universal guarantee to a landline phone

[David Boxall]

First they screwed the nation by privatising our telecommunications 
infrastructure. Then they screwed us again by sabotaging the NBN (which 
is no more than a project to repair some of the harm done by privatisation).

Lives depend on communication. Business, health and education (among 
others) depend on communications. We shouldn't need a USO. Equitable 
access to services is a government responsibility. Time to take back our 
network.

<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-06/productivity-commission-recommendation-scrap-landline-guarantee/8097292#>
> By Anna Vidot
> Updated yesterday at 4:41pm
>
> The Productivity Commission says a national policy guaranteeing 
> landline telephone access for all Australians is "anachronistic and 
> needs to change".
>
> But its draft report has stopped short of recommending a new baseline 
> guarantee for access to broadband internet, instead noting the 
> National Broadband Network already aims to provide that service to all 
> Australian premises.
>
> The Telecommunications Universal Service Obligation was introduced in 
> the 1990s, to ensure all Australians maintained "reasonable access" to 
> a phone line after the industry was deregulated.
>
> Some rural Australians have called for the USO to be extended to 
> include baseline access to mobile phone and internet coverage.
>
> But while the Productivity Commission called for legislation to make 
> "explicit" NBN's role "as a universal provider of wholesale broadband 
> services", it has not called for a new, broader guarantee to internet 
> a particular level of internet access.
>
> Instead, the agency said government should avoid a national, one-size 
> fits all guarantee in the mould of the TUSO, and focus instead on the 
> gaps left in services once the National Broadband rollout is completed 
> in 2020.
>
> "Once rolled out to all Australians, the NBN will be the foundation on 
> which a future broadband-based telecommunications universal service 
> policy should be built," Commissioner Paul Lindwall said in a statement.
>
> "A completed NBN, which provides broadband and voice services to all 
> Australians, will make the current TUSO obsolete."
>
> Rural telco advocates call for community to get involved
>
> Georgie Somerset, chair of Queensland farm lobby Agforce's 
> telecommunications committee, welcomed the report's central finding: 
> that the USO is out of date and should be changed.
>
> But she said rural advocates were of the firm belief that a minimum 
> internet service should be guaranteed, and urged communities to make 
> those views known to the commission as it sought public comment.
>
> The Productivity Commission will hold a series of public hearings 
> early in the new year and accept public submissions until January 20, 
> before providing a final report to the Federal Government in April.
>
> "We think that people should have some sort of guarantee around 
> broadband access," Mrs Somerset said.
>
> "One of things in this report is they are saying that if that was to 
> be in place, they're not sure what that should look like or how much 
> data that would be, and how much speed.
>
> "This is an opportunity for industry to come in and say 'we absolutely 
> need this, and this is why, and what we would absolutely expect to have'."
>
> Telcos consider draft report
>
> Under the existing USO, the government and other telcos provide 
> Telstra with about $300 million each year for its copper phone lines 
> and payphone network.
>
> A spokesman for Telstra said in a statement that the company is the 
> single largest contributor of funds to that network, and will take its 
> time to "properly consider" the implications of the commission's "very 
> thorough" draft report.
>
> "Telstra supports many of the points raised by the Commission and we 
> remain supportive of changes to the USO if they improve the experience 
> for customers in delivering a universal service," the statement said.
>
> "We support the Commission's view that the Government should consider 
> whether the ongoing payphone obligation is delivering the best value 
> to Australian consumers and communities.
>
> "A transition to NBN becoming the wholesale Universal Service Provider 
> requires them to be operating a truly national network capable of 
> delivering a good quality voice service on demand, something that 
> would not be possible at the moment.
>
> "We need to make sure that we fully understand the impacts this could 
> have on customers before taking any action that could see remote 
> customers left without a reliable service."
>
> The company's competitors have long argued against the USO 
> arrangement, and welcomed the Productivity Commission's draft 
> recommendation that it be scrapped.
>
> In a statement, Vodafone chief strategy office Dan Lloyd said the 
> report's "damning set of findings and practical set of 
> recommendations" should be adopted by government immediately.
>
> "The report has, for the first time, shed light on the USO 
> arrangements, which have not placed any accountability obligations on 
> Telstra," he said.
>
> "It is especially damning of the USO's lack of transparency, 
> highlighting there are no requirements for Telstra to report on the 
> number of non-commercial phone services it provides or the costs of 
> services supplied under the USO."

-- 
David Boxall                         | "Cheer up" they said.
                                      | "Things could be worse."
http://david.boxall.id.au            | So I cheered up and,
                                      | Sure enough, things got worse.
                                      |              --Murphy's musing