From: Steve Judd [stevejudd@optushome.com.au]
Sent:
Friday, 25 July 2003 8:57 AM
To: ECITA, Committee
(SEN)
Subject: Submission to senate broadband
inquiry
Importance: High
As
requested, my recommendations to the senate inquiry into broadband
competition are as follows;
- The remainder of Telstra to be sold, but with the government
retaining ownership of the public system telephone network
(PSTN)
- The government to establish a new entity solely to maintain the network
and provide telephone and wholesale adsl services at a modest
profit.
- Individual phone call billing has been calculated to
be unviable. Local telephone calls should be free with only a flat service
access fee (to return a modest profit). Telephone and internet service
access fees would be discounted for low income
earners.
- ADSL internet can then be provided at a truly wholesale
price. Standard internet dialup will also be cheaper due to
no per call cost.
- Market forces and
Telstra's inherent ineptitude will cause the sale of its badly
managed components, e.g. pay TV and broadband cable, to third parties with
the ability to operate them properly.
- The provision of exclusive content by an ISP is of no
consequence due to limited
financial viability.
End result
will be cheaper dialup, ADSL broadband, and cable broadband due
to real market competition.
Please
advise any required clarifications,
Regards,
Steve Judd