"fiddling" on Broadband

TELSTRA has momentarily suspended its attack on the Labor Government over speculation the telco might be structurally separated, and refocused its ire on the federal Opposition, which it accuses of "fiddling" on broadband.
The riposte came yesterday after Coalition senators used their numbers to set up a select committee to probe the tender process for the federal Government's $4.7 billion broadband contract.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has slammed the establishment of the inquiry as "economic vandalism" and warned it could jeopardise the entire broadband project. Telstra joined Senator Conroy in his critique yesterday, comparing the Coalition senators to the Roman emperor Nero.

"We've been wanting to build a National Broadband Network since 2005," Telstra spokesman Jeremy Mitchell said yesterday.

"Now it could be sent to yet another committee - Australians don't want more processes, they want high-speed broadband, they are getting sick and tired of waiting.

"As (Telstra spokesman) Phil Burgess said earlier this week, 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned'. This looks more like fiddling, but the problem remains - it's investment, not fiddling that will build a high-speed broadband network for Australia." But Telstra's rivals and critics said they welcomed the Senate's investigation of the matter. Optus head of government and corporate affairs Maha Krishnapillai said delays in the bid process so far had been caused by Telstra, not the Government or Opposition.

"It's a bit rich that Telstra always claims delays and obstruction are due to everyone bar themselves," Mr Krishnapillai said.

"The reality is that the short-term delays are firstly due to Telstra's continued slowness in providing the network information to the government, and therefore to bid proponents like ourselves, so that we can actually finalise our bid. If you have nothing to hide then a Senate inquiry should pose no threat to Telstra."

David Forman from the Competitive Carriers Coalition said he supported the establishment of the inquiry "as long as it doesn't descend into party politics".

"Provided it doesn't interfere with the other processes that are going on, as a general principle, I don't have any objection to policy issues being discussed by the Senate," Mr Forman said. "Most of the time in recent years where the Senate has looked at these issue, it has made a positive, sensible contribution and it hasn't been overly political - the thing we don't want is for this to become any more party political, we don't need any more of that."