Telecommunications guru and Bucketty resident Paul Budde has some advice for Australia’s new Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, take the politics out of telecoms and bring back bipartisan support.
“There is a bit of healing to do, but it is in the national interest to take politics out of telecom: it is simply too important for the future of our country,” Budde said on his Web site.
The first and biggest issue, as Budde see it, is the NBN. “It has been slowly dawning on the Government that the NBN is more than just a telecom infrastructure upgrade. Nationwide access to high-speed broadband provides significant increases in productivity that will greatly benefit the economy … a sturdy telecoms infrastructure is essential and relation to fixed networks needs to be fibre-based …
“A more immediate issue that needs to be addressed is the wholesale price charged by the NBN company. Solving this issue will have its effect on the company’s financial position, (but) further procrastination … will also be detrimental to future business.”
Budde adds that, by ignoring industry expert advice and totally relying on police and military sources on certain matters, “we are clearly out of step with other countries. The so-called Encryption Act needs to be reviewed and amendments that were promised need to be implemented.”
He wraps up: “My proposal to Paul would be to bring the Government, industry and the community together. First a high strategic/policy level vision for the future of telecoms in our country needs to be agreed on. Such a plan must indicate who is responsible for what (government, industry, community). After that we can start looking at the many individual issues that need to be addressed.”
Over to you, Paul Fletcher …
Paul Fletcher
