Australia Plans Broadband Network - WSJ.com
Unfair ! Lucky ozzy's.
Com'on britain..
Australia launched a plan to become one of the world's most wired countries, shunning private bids and announcing that a new state-controlled company would build a high-speed broadband network.
The government's decision stunned observers, who said the plan was far more ambitious than had previously been signaled, and could reshape Australia's telecommunications landscape.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Tuesday that the 43 billion Australian dollar (US$31 billion) national network would deliver broadband speeds of 100 megabits per second to 90% of Australian homes, schools and businesses by 2018 through fiber-optic cables connected directly to buildings. The other 10% of people would get a wireless upgrade.
[telstra shares]
The new speeds are 100 times faster than most Australians currently get -- enough to watch multiple high-quality downloads of movies or television shows at once from the same connection. A handful of countries -- including South Korea, Japan, France and Germany -- currently have comparable speeds.
A yet-to-be named company would build Australia's network, funded by government money with private companies invited to invest and provide technical expertise.
Private-sector ownership would be capped at 49%.
The network is to be built over eight years, with the rollout expected to begin next year. The government will make an initial investment of A$4.7 billion, with the rest to come from private companies and the issuing of government bonds.
The government would sell its stake in the five years after the network is completed if conditions allow, Mr. Rudd said.
Critics said the plan could fail if the desired level of private investment isn't attained, leaving the public to pay the whole cost through higher prices for Internet access. "The government has provided no evidence that there will be sufficient demand for this service at prices that enable the network to deliver a commercial return," opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said.
Mr. Rudd promised a comprehensive network as part of his successful 2007 election campaign, and subsequently invited companies to bid for the project.
But Mr. Rudd said Tuesday that none of the tenders -- which came from providers including Axia NetMedia Corp. of Canada and the Optus unit of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. -- offered value for money, in part because of the global financial downturn.
Mr. Rudd said the network is essential to boosting long-term economic growth in Australia and would increase the country's productivity and competitiveness. The government expects the new network to create thousands of jobs.
Access to the fiber-optic network would be offered wholesale to service providers, a move welcomed Tuesday by smaller companies that complain that Telstra Corp. has a near monopoly over the existing copper-wire network.
All companies, including Telstra, were invited to invest in the new company. The government previously had excluded Telstra from bidding on the project after the company's application to build the network failed to meet the government's criteria. Telstra Chairman Donald McGuachie said the company welcomed the new plan.
Unfair ! Lucky ozzy's.
Com'on britain..