Industry call for government to prioritise digital economy infrastructure

The CEO of Communications Alliance, John Stanton, recently called on the recently elected federal government to take immediate steps in upgrading Australia’s communications infrastructure to maximise the country’s ability to benefit from the digital economy. He commented that the communications industry was pleased that a discussion about upgrading Australia’s communications infrastructure has been a key policy issue in the federal election.

“Communications Alliance is happy to work with the incoming government to deliver a broadband network that will meet the long-term needs of all Australians,” Stanton said. “In doing so, it is important that the government develops a whole-of-government approach to the opportunities that every Australian can reap from the digital economy.”

Communications Alliance has mobilised more than 150 individuals from across the telecommunications sector over the past 12 months to craft practicable industry-based solutions to aid the rollout of a national broadband network.

Stanton emphasised that the key objectives of the national approach to upgrading the infrastructure should be to deliver:

• High-speed broadband at affordable prices to all Australians, delivered on a national platform;
• An efficient and sustainable approach to providing services to regional and remote end users;
• A market structure that provides a platform for innovation in metropolitan and regional Australia;
• A regulatory regime that provides equivalence of opportunity for all industry participants and promotes competition throughout Australia; and
• Reform to better manage commercial disputes and avoid regulatory delay.

Stanton added: “To deliver on these objectives, Communications Alliance believes that there must be a long-term strategy to replace the copper-based network with a next-generation open access solution. In undertaking an assessment on what is the best long-term approach, all access technologies should be considered including fibre, wireless and satellite.”

Communications Alliance also proposed the creation of a Cabinet Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, to ensure that policy settings across key government portfolios are synchronised to harness the full potential of digital technologies.