Industry body flags comms issues in 2006

Industry body SPAN has moved to warn the ICT community of several issues likely to impact it in 2006.

The body, which represents ISPs, telcos, and service providers in Australia is seeking leadership in three key areas to maintain growth, innovation and competition in the sector: The local wholesale services and the operational separation regime; infrastructure investments and the competitive environment; and, accelerating broadband-enabled services and applications.

While the Government’s telecom competition policies had accelerated Australia's economy by $12.4 billion since 1997 more focus had to be placed on the issues facing the industry in order maintain this growth, SPAN chairman, John Kranenburg, said in a statement.

Foremost of these issues was the fast escalating industry tensions in respect of Telstra-offered wholesale services.

“This will mature into a full-blown issue when the Government releases its first draft of the promised operational separation discussion paper,” he said. “Decisions in this area will profoundly influence the breadth and depth of future industry competition.”

The upturn in industry infrastructure investment announcements such as Telstra's own 3G network represented the first phase of a telecommunications arms race, Kranenburg said.

“That will escalate to legal and regulatory hostilities as the protagonists seek to guarantee investment certainty for their spending plans,” he said. “Decisions in this area will profoundly influence both future innovation and future industry structure.”

With the consumer and SME broadband markets exploding an appropriate balance also needed to be struck between consumer protection and unregulated competition principles, Kranenburg added.

A SPAN discussion on these issues is available from its website at www.span.net.au/index.asp?id=1003