ID :
170241
Wed, 03/23/2011 - 12:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/170241
The shortlink copeid
Govt's NBN backflip to benefit telcos
SYDNEY, March 23 (AAP)-The federal government has backflipped on a key plank of its national broadband network and will now allow commercial telcos to lay their own cables.
Under existing NBN legislation, "cherry-picking" rules protect the company building the $36 billion network from competition.
But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has put forward amendments, which would allow potential NBN Co rivals to install their own optical fibre cables first.
The catch is the private-sector networks would have to be like NBN Co's.
Senator Conroy said they would have to serve residential and small-business premises on an "open access, wholesale-only basis".
"The provisions are fundamental to the government's policy that NBN Co deliver uniform national wholesale prices, and the ability of NBN Co to cross-subsidise from high-value areas to less profitable areas like most of regional Australia," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Last week, Labor senators on a communications committee defended proposals to protect NBN Co from competition, arguing they needed to be prevented from targeting lucrative markets and leaving the government business enterprise with high-cost, low-revenue customers.
Coalition senators described those rules as anti-competitive.
Liberal senator Mary Jo Fisher, a member of the communications committee, said the amendment was an improvement but should have been moved earlier.
"Not a good move, minister," she told AAP.
"It's a real shame the minister has left it to the 11th hour."
Senator Conroy is also proposing amendments to make transactions between NBN Co and Telstra exempt from state and territory government stamp duties.
"As a fundamental component of these historic reforms, the definitive agreements are not part of normal business operations and should not be subject to stamp duty or any other form of state and territory government tax or duty," he said.
Labor's amendments to the NBN Companies billare expected to go before the Senate on Thursday as debate on the legislation resumes.
The rollout of the $36 billion NBN is expected to be completed by 2018.
Under existing NBN legislation, "cherry-picking" rules protect the company building the $36 billion network from competition.
But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has put forward amendments, which would allow potential NBN Co rivals to install their own optical fibre cables first.
The catch is the private-sector networks would have to be like NBN Co's.
Senator Conroy said they would have to serve residential and small-business premises on an "open access, wholesale-only basis".
"The provisions are fundamental to the government's policy that NBN Co deliver uniform national wholesale prices, and the ability of NBN Co to cross-subsidise from high-value areas to less profitable areas like most of regional Australia," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Last week, Labor senators on a communications committee defended proposals to protect NBN Co from competition, arguing they needed to be prevented from targeting lucrative markets and leaving the government business enterprise with high-cost, low-revenue customers.
Coalition senators described those rules as anti-competitive.
Liberal senator Mary Jo Fisher, a member of the communications committee, said the amendment was an improvement but should have been moved earlier.
"Not a good move, minister," she told AAP.
"It's a real shame the minister has left it to the 11th hour."
Senator Conroy is also proposing amendments to make transactions between NBN Co and Telstra exempt from state and territory government stamp duties.
"As a fundamental component of these historic reforms, the definitive agreements are not part of normal business operations and should not be subject to stamp duty or any other form of state and territory government tax or duty," he said.
Labor's amendments to the NBN Companies billare expected to go before the Senate on Thursday as debate on the legislation resumes.
The rollout of the $36 billion NBN is expected to be completed by 2018.
