A privatised, competition-driven telco industry may be to blame for Australia's insufficient broadband infrastructure, according to broadband technology exec Shaun Page.

The local general manager for broadband aggregation company Unisphere said privately owned, profit-driven telcos in Australia were dissuaded from investing in nationwide broadband rollout because returns would not justify costs initially.

Page urged the Australian Federal Government to create tax incentives related to investment in nationwide broadband infrastructure - or to fund the expenditure itself.

-You can't do this without the support of government," he said. -Our government's not doing enough."

Broadband service providers locally would need to charge Australians up to AUD$100 per month for integrated Internet, audio, digital television and video delivered via broadband - a charge Page said most Australians would balk at initially, but would eventually agree to pay when they recognised benefits of the integrated service.

That charge would be based on recouping infrastructure investment of -tens of millions," he said.

Fully government-funded telcos in some Asian countries - such as South Korea - had already rolled national DSL infrastructure nationally that had lured significant numbers of customers into paying for the service, he said. In fact, Korea was home to the world's largest DSL subscriber base, of 2 million, he said.

Unisphere supplies products that aggregate data transmitted via cable.

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