The Australian Government’s decision to go-it-alone and build the national broadband network has gained widespread support among telcos and ISPs. However the Opposition has come out against the proposal, along with independents Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding who seem determined to keep Australia in the dark ages when it comes broadband access.To read coverage from The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, see below.Kevin Rudd’s $43bn fast web gamble as Government warns Telstra to co-operate or face break-up
The global recession has forced Kevin Rudd to scrap plans for a high-speed national broadband network funded by the private sector and wager at least $21.9billion of taxpayers’ money to fund his election pledge to bring internet speeds into the 21st century, reports The Australian.And the Prime Minister, desperate not to allow the credit crunch to kill his promises, has flagged a fundamental regulatory shake-up to prevent Telstra from standing in the way of the plan, even if it means forcing the telecommunications giant to hand over its existing cable networks.To read more of this report from The Australian, see:
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25306413-601,00.htmlAlso see:Sol’s game dials trouble
It is one of the most spectacular own-goals in Australian corporate history, writes Michael Sainsbury in The Australian.The ugly, aggressive and totally unnecessary war by Telstra on successive federal governments will result in what the company has always feared most: the loss of its hugely profitable fixed-line monopoly.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25306410-7583,00.htmlRudd’s $43bn plan to deliver fast internet
A $43 billion national broadband network with 100 times the present speed will be built by the Government in the single largest infrastructure project in Australian history.In a dramatic and unexpected decision, the Government has aborted its plan to choose a private partner for a much more modest $10 billion-$12 billion project, of which $4.7 billion was to be government money.
www.theage.com.au/national/rudds-43bn-plan-to-deliver-fast-internet-20090407-9zol.html
www.smh.com.au/national/rudds-43bn-plan-to-deliver-fast-internet-20090407-9zol.htmlTelstra rivals cheer Rudd’s broadband network plan
The galaxy of telecommunications and internet companies that live in Telstra’s shadow — even those that spent millions of dollars bidding to get involved in the national broadband network — yesterday welcomed the Government’s move to ditch the tender and build the network itself.Optus, Primus, Internode and other smaller providers responded enthusiastically yesterday, with only ACT utility TransACT saying it was disappointed with the outcome after spending millions preparing a bid.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25305584-5018507,00.htmlRivals cheer end of a ‘monopoly’
Telstra’s competitors reacted joyously to the news that the Government will control the proposed new national broadband network.Losing bidder Acacia was also enthusiastic, throwing its hat into the ring to take part in the eight-year roll-out of the $43 billion network.
business.theage.com.au/business/rivals-cheer-end-of-a-monopoly-20090407-9zn7.html
business.smh.com.au/business/rivals-cheer-end-of-a-monopoly-20090407-9zn7.htmlLiberals go on attack as Nationals splinter on broadband network
Kevin Rudd’s broadband plan is based on an unpopular technology and breaks his promise to provide coverage for 98 per cent of the nation, Malcolm Turnbull has declared.The Opposition Leader also warned broadband users could have to pay as much as $200 a month to use the Government’s promised high-speed net service.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25306321-5018507,00.htmlRudd’s $43bn broadband plan is just another sham
Finally, reality has mugged the Federal Government’s flawed $4.7 billion broadband policy, with the Government abandoning the tender under the guise of a visionary $43 billion fibre-to-the-home network.An impressive line-up of Labor heavyweights was needed to bury the $4.7 billion policy, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd giving the last rites while Treasurer Wayne Swan looked over the shoulder of the hapless Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
business.theage.com.au/business/rudds-43bn-broadband-plan-is-just-another-sham-20090407-9znl.html
business.smh.com.au/business/rudds-43bn-broadband-plan-is-just-another-sham-20090407-9znl.htmlInfrastructure bonds to pay for broadband project
The Rudd Government will use debt — infrastructure bonds — to fund the bulk of the nation’s largest ever infrastructure project: an ambitious $43 billion national broadband network.The Government’s decision to take control of the project is the latest example of the private sector’s inability to get enough funding for infrastructure deals.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25305624-5018507,00.htmlTelco’s not down for the count yet
Wham-bam. Take that, Telstra. And that, too.The Government has belatedly retrieved its tattered broadband promise from a botched process and magically transformed it into a – very expensive – vision of “historic nation-building”.Forget the original $4.7billion investment. It’s now $43billion worth of massive government response to “market failure”.
blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/houserules/index.php/theaustralian/comments/telcos_not_down_for_the_count_yet/$43 billion will tame Telstra
Telstra could be forced to sell off its high-speed cable network and its stake in Foxtel under a regulatory regime set to be introduced as the new national broadband network is built.The measures are canvassed in a discussion paper that was released yesterday as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the Federal Government would take a majority share in a $43 billion network.
business.theage.com.au/business/43-billion-will-tame-telstra-20090407-9zns.html
business.smh.com.au/business/43-billion-will-tame-telstra-20090407-9zns.htmlTelstra rallies on national broadband project hope
Hopes that Telstra will be able to negotiate a role in the Government’s new $43 billion broadband network yesterday swamped investor concern about the threat of new laws designed to hobble the nation’s dominant telecommunications company.Shares in Telstra, which have struggled since it was spectacularly excluded from the national broadband network bidding process in December, rallied 6 per cent yesterday after the Government unveiled its own broadband plan.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25305628-5018507,00.htmlThe dilemmas facing Telstra’s chiefs
The decision to leapfrog current thinking around high-speed broadband services over copper services and move directly to a fibre-to-the-home network will be seen as a watershed event for Australia by future generations.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25303231-5018507,00.html
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