The 3 main changes Turnbull will bring to TMT

With Malcolm Turnbull (PM) sworn in as Australia’s 29th Prime Minister, we highlighted 3 main implications for the TMT sectors;

1) Media reform becomes front and centre

Given the PM’s support for media reform, we believe change is inevitable but the question still remains - when does this occur?

• Reform may be delayed by more pressing priorities for the government while election timing may also influence (and delay) reform.
• Review of broadcast license fees may be decoupled from the media (ownership) reform debate with press speculation that a separate departmental review of license fees is underway. This could de-politicalise the process and increase the probability of change, certainly Australian license fees are out of step with global peers.
• With the accession of Senator Fifield to Minister of Communications, we believe his role will be to steer the current direction as set by the PM rather than plot a new course.

2) NBN, a political football

• We believe there will be little change in the strategic direction for the NBN.
• We don’t believe there is a desire to change the technology strategy (ie upgrade to a full FTTP strategy).
• There isn't wide enough gulf between the Coalition and the Labor policy to warrant Labor making this a policy battle ground, however we do expect the opposition to attack the government and PM’s track record in relation to the cost and rollout of the NBN.

3) Innovation and start-ups in the spotlight

Innovation, disruption, technology, agile, creative… all words that the PM used in his acceptance speech.

We believe Turnbull will approach innovation and digital transformation with a much more open attitude than any previous PM. Which is likely to apply to both the inner workings of government as well as to the government’s support for innovation, digital transformation (disruption) in the wider economy including start-up funding, supporting STEM education and broader tax reform.

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This extract is taken from our recent Venture Insights report 'Turnbull takes the reins'.

Newly launched, Venture Insights is a strategic research company. Venture Insights provides our clients a competitive advantage by outlining the key trends and implications flowing from disruption in key verticals that result from the information and internet age that we live in. We provide long term strategic thinking to capture the trends that will determine the winners and losers in sectors and sub-sectors as challengers test the rules of engagement with incumbents, whether they are in the telco, media or other digitally affected industries such as finance, health, travel, employment, real estate, etc.

We have partnered with Enders Analysis, the market leading independent research house for media, digital and Telco across UK and Europe. This supplements our local market coverage with coverage from UK and European markets so that our subscribers can gain insight on leading global trends.

We offer our service via a simple monthly subscription which provides your team access to our current report (150+ pa) as well as access to our full archive of 1500 reports.

For more information on this report and Venture Insights, please go to www.ventureinsights.com.au or contact me on [email protected]