Australia Broadband Debate Heats Up

Tension rose over the privatization of the nation's planned 43 billion Australian dollar (US$42 billion) national high-speed Internet network, as a Senate debate on competition legislation began. Australia's center-left Labor government said it remains "firmly committed" to privatizing the fiber broadband network once it is completed.

The statement followed news from the Greens party Monday that it reached a deal with the government to support laws designed to curb the ability of dominant provider Telstra Corp. to compete with the national network. The Greens support came in exchange for a promise that NBN Co., the newly formed state-owned network operator, won't be privatized without parliamentary approval. That raised questions about how the government would recoup some A$26 billion in taxpayer funds expected to be used to build the network, which is designed to deliver high-speed communications to 93% of Australian homes. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government will still sell its stake in NBN, subject to market conditions but that Canberra is "mindful" of lessons learned in the privatization of Telstra. That process, overseen by the then-conservative government, created a telecommunications juggernaut against which other companies struggled to compete. The government wants to dodge the pitfalls of the Telstra privatization, "including avoiding higher prices in regional Australia," he said. Any NBN sale will be subject to parliamentary approval and an inquiry by the country's productivity watchdog.