NSW Gov touts plans for broadband competition - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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NSW Gov touts plans for broadband competition

By James Pearce, ZDNet Australia
September 20, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/NSW-Gov-touts-plans-for-broadband-competition/0,130061791,120268396,00.htm

The NSW Government will provide access to its telecommunications infrastructure and "optimise" its purchasing power to encourage competition in the broadband space.

Warwick Watkins, director general of the NSW Department of Information Technology and Management outlined the government's telecommunications strategy at an industry conference presented by the Smart Internet Technologies CRC.

The strategy includes providing access to state-owned telecommunications infrastructure, which Watkins told ZDNet Australia was "an additional backbone on top of other backbones".

The examples cited were the optic fibre network owned by the Rail Infrastructure Corporation which links rail locations between Newcastle and Goulburn, and as far west as Lithgow, and 1500kms of optic fibre owned by TransGrid, which traverses the state.

"Many people are feeling hamstrung by the lack of broadband infrastructure," said Watkins. "We place on the table, access to state-owned infrastructure. If you want the access to develop an innovative project to get content out there, you can take [our infrastructure] into account." However, Watkins ruled out building additional infrastructure, saying the government's policy was one of private sector investment.

Watkins also said the government would optimise its purchasing power to encourage competition in the telecommunications industry. Currently the NSW Government spends more than AU$250 million per year on telecommunications. The government will look beyond getting a certain level of service for a certain amount of money and consider how a purchase will help achieve other government objectives, according to Watkins.

However, he stopped short of refusing to use the incumbent carrier at any cost. "What we are saying is we want the most cost effective broadband solution but in achieving that we have to keep an eye on those other things," he said.