Telstra shelve plans for a aus$4billion high-speed fibre optic network

jack_christie

How long before Ballcock and Bullsh1t regurgitate a hoary old chestnut like this one:

"Telstra has blamed regulatory requirements for its decision last year to shelve plans for a $4 billion high-speed fibre optic network."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Telstra-plans-ad-campaign-on-broadband/2007/05/02/1177788188053.html

jack_christie

A peak at the future of broadband over here, from over there. The head eircom proctologist should take note!

"Telstra's admission that it was deliberately depriving customers of high-speed broadband today to blackmail the Government into awarding it a monopoly to build the FTTN (fibre to the node) network tomorrow"

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21738311-5000117,00.html

jack_christie

"John Howard yesterday chided Telstra for its aggressive campaign against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The company's full-page ads in metropolitan newspapers criticising the competition regulator reflected "the frustration of a company that can't get its own way", he said."

Telstra's "Dr Burgess, who described the competition tsar as "Doctor No" "

"The competition regulator joined rival telecommunications firms yesterday in reiterating their calls for Telstra to make its plans public. "The future of Australian telecommunications cannot be decided behind closed doors, bypassing scrutiny and through secret deals," said Mr Samuel, who until last night had refrained from publicly attacking Telstra."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/pm-joins-demand-for-telstra-to-back-off/2007/05/15/1178995159770.html


Telstra site poll says 97.1 per cent blamed Telstra for "blocking high-speed broadband for Australia".
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/now-we-arent-talking/2007/05/14/1178995048612.html

Telstra's "Help Australia get high-speed broadband" site
http://www.nowwearetalking.com.au/Home/Page.aspx?mid=282

jack_christie

"At vast expense to its shareholders, Telstra has been running a campaign against policies that seek to ensure world-class telecommunications services at a fair price to consumers and with a reasonable return to shareholders," Mr Samuel told the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"Instead of putting its plan before all Australians – so it can be considered calmly and coolly – Telstra seeks to whip up public anxiety about self-manufactured obstacles in its path."

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/787490/fromItemId/2332


Critical regulatory issues for a competitive broadband market
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/772076/fromItemId/8973


Communications issues: noise and bluster or just plain facts -

There are two questions which needed to be answered in relation to the further development of the broadband network: what form will the network will ultimately take and who will own it?

"After two years of ADSL2+ roll out by competitors, Telstra finally launched its
own ADSL2+ services in 364 exchanges, reaching 46 per cent of households,
in late 2006.

Why didn’t Telstra switch on the service in all exchanges?

We now know from Telstra’s recent market briefing that it would not take that
much for Telstra to ‘flick the switch’, as I’ve been calling on them to do, and
extend ADSL2+ coverage."

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/782118/fromItemId/8973

jack_christie

Interesting to see fibre as an election issue in the land down under.

Telestra the eircon of Oz, wants the regulator (ACCC) out of the way so they can get control of fibre to the node networks, but Telestra has refused to lodge a tender, and another another consortium has...

However "telstra wants to roughly double the price of broadband internet at the same time as re-establishing its monopoly and increasing the speed of data carriage with more optic fibre instead of copper."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/losing-on-broadband-and-petrol/2007/06/12/1181414296635.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1