Victorian IT Minister calls for next-gen telco review - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Victorian IT Minister calls for next-gen telco review

By Renai LeMay, ZDNet Australia
February 02, 2005
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Victorian-IT-Minister-calls-for-next-gen-telco-review/0,130061791,139179566,00.htm

Victorian Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Marsha Thomson, has called on the federal government to resolve next-generation telecommunications issues before going ahead with full Telstra privatisation.

In information released to the media about the Bracks government's support of new fibre-optic services to housing developments, Thomson said "the commercial and regulatory arrangements for the delivery of next generation services over fibre-rich networks are not yet settled".

"Obviously the Commonwealth government has a critical role to play in Australia's transition to the next generation of telecommunications infrastructure and I'm encouraged that some Commonwealth agencies are beginning to review the regulatory treatment of next generation services such as Voice over IP, but this work must go much further".

According to Thomson, "the Commonwealth should now be working with state and local governments, telecommunications users and the industry to develop a vision of a next generation telecommunications sector".

Thomson said that before the Commonwealth fully privatised Telstra, it must first resolve the commercial models and regulatory framework to enable innovations such as fibre to the home (FTTH) to go ahead.

The call came as the Victorian government followed Tasmania's lead and announced support for fibre optic services in a new housing development in Melbourne. The Aurora estate in Epping North is to be supplied with FTTH infrastructure in a move that Thomson sees as a way to "identify a potentially viable model for the delivery of FTTH in all new housing estates".

The development is being overseen by VicUrban, the Victorian Government's new urban development agency that was formed when the Docklands Authority and the Urban and Regional Land Corporation merged in August 2003.