In a Webcast being on its NowWeAreTalking.com.au advocacy site, Telstra’s top regulatory executive group Phil Burgess says broadband investment in Australia – and therefore broadband speeds – were being held back in this country because of disincentives in the regulatory regime.
In the Webcast Mr Burgess officially launches the company’s Broadband Australia Campaign (BackTelstra).
He says Australia’s ability to compete in global markets was at risk because of a “broadband drought” – and that Telstra was being prohibited from investing billions of dollars in network improvements by unfair regulations.
Unusually for a carrier that dominates the market, Telstra is urging its customers, shareholders, staff and the public to become regulatory “activists” – to agitate for changes to the way government oversees the industry.
Specifically, the company wants changes to competition rules to give it “regulatory certainty” before making billions of dollars worth of planned fibre investments.
The BACKTelstra campaign urges activists to talk to family and friends about broadband issues in Australia. It also urges supporters to contact both their Federal member of Parliament and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over specific regulatory issues.
The company has appointed co-ordinators to assist “active’ supporters.
It has already issued BACKTelstra literature to more than one million shareholders, and says it will include campaign information on communications sent to its 8 million customers – including on their bills.
It is thought to be one of the biggest corporate activist campaign undertaken by an Australian company, and certainly the biggest in the resources being deployed to try and mobilise a grass roots base.
“Telstra wants to invest billions of dollars in a next generation network but the current regulations make it impossible,” Dr Burgess said in a statement.
“Australia's major trading partners, including the Asian growth economies, are surging ahead of Australia. In Japan and Korea alone, more than 105 million homes and businesses will be connected to fibre delivering over 100Mbps within three years.
“Because Australia is a sparsely populated country, distant from its major trading partners with an economy heavily dependent on small business, access to high speed broadband is the key to future growth and prosperity.
“Australians deserve a regulatory regime that encourages companies, including Telstra's competitors, to invest in broadband networks that will allow the country to increase productivity, expand wealth to everyone and compete in the global market over the decades ahead," Dr Burgess said.
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