The Price of competition
3 years on, this idea remains as relevant as ever. It would ACCELERATE ROLLOUT of the NBN, promote competition, privatise and deregulate telecommunications, spur growth and employment; and COST THE TAXPAYER NOTHING. It remains a viable solution and potentially also a vehicle for privatisation of the NBN.
The Price of Competition - January 2015
Why did Turnbull spurn this plan?
- Divide Australia into Towns and Regions
- Issue a tender for each Town/Region for a build contract and an operating contract
- Access license fees (similar to spectrum licenses) would fund the build in rural areas. In urban areas, competitors would bid for access licenses & multiple access licenses might be issued to promote competition.
- Interoperability would be regulated by an independent Commonwealth authority.
Several other solutions were spurned by Labor and the Coalition. Including:
- The Public wireless system developed & trialled by the CSIRO would have reused analogue TV towers and could have been used to bid for the public wireless rollout in the USA. Imagine the royalties!
- The use of FTTN in existing unit blocks and FTTH in new blocks.
- The wireless solution put forward by the Affordable Broadband Alliance.