Peter Coroneos, chief executive at the Internet Industry Association (IIA), said it had serious issue with the Government regarding the overly restrictive nature of the rules surrounding datacasting.
According to Coroneos, the spectrum allocation should be done in a manner which would benefit as many Australians as possible. "It will also create many new business opportunities to enhance innovation, investment, and export potential," said Coroneos. "The technologies now exist in Australia, by which the datacasting spectrum can be used to augment Internet access, particularly in regions with low bandwidth availability."
Coroneos said the IIA was currently finalising its submission to the Government.
Both the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and the Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association (AIMIA) have also made submissions regarding the Issues Paper which looked at the Review of the Operation of Schedule 6 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Datacasting Services).
The AIIA described the current provisions as a "heavy-handed regulatory framework [that is] unfair and inhibits industry development".
"It is clear that the current datacasting regime is not working," argued the AIIA.
It suggested that the right to datacasting should be open to any firm, on a competitively neutral basis. According to the AIIA, there shouldn't be an assumption that datacasting will be primarily undertaken by the free-to-air broadcasters, nor should they have first rights to the digital spectrum.
In its submission, AIMIA argued that, rather than supporting the status quo which would protect the free-to-air broadcasters, the Government should consider the overall needs of the digital content industries.
"This inevitably involves dismantling the now arbitrary distinction between broadcasting and datacasting, and the limitations this imposes on innovation and growth," AIMIA's submission stated.
"If Australia is to position itself as a competitive information economy, it is essential for the government to make digital spectrum, with a minimum of restrictions, available to new players in the digital content industry," it argued.
The way Kerry Packer and Channel 9 have hampered datacasting is amazing. Anyone viewing TV would know how boring it gets. On the Net, there are 1000s of channels. Keep pushing and get rid of the old-boys' club that seems to dominate every major institution in this country. Get rid of the old-fashioned paternalism that seems to dog us. We are young and free!! More Natasha Stott-Despoja with her young approach to new technologies. We are not all grannies fearing the new!