| :: CEO Column
Industry taking responsibility for the industry’s future At the recent Communications Day Summit I was invited to speak on the session titled ‘Regulatory Stream’. The fact that Communications Alliance was in the stream, together with industry executives Grant Forsyth from BT, Dr Phil Burgess from Telstra and Paul Fletcher from Optus, made two very strong points. First, although called the ‘regulatory stream’, there was not a regulator present. Rather it was the association which industry created, the association which advocates increasing industry self-governance and the role of industry in taking responsibility for its own future. And that is appropriate because although much was spoken about the role of regulation at the Summit, we must always keep in the forefront of debates that the fundamental policy objective of the Telecommunications Act 1997 is the ‘maximum use of industry self-regulation’. Secondly, it is an acknowledgement of Communications Alliance’s prominent role in promoting industry self-rule and actively working to set the industry’s agenda. It is an endorsement that while the reports of individual organisational differences will always get the media attention, this industry actually has more in common than divides it – as evidenced by the ongoing collaborative development of the industry’s operating environment through Communications Alliance. Industry has asserted its prominence in shaping the future through its collective efforts to develop the draft Work Plan for transitioning to the NGN environment. At a high level, this draft Work Plan is the master project plan for the migration of the industry to an evolving technology platform and the transition of our customers to a new range of services. The Work Plan will be the subject of discussion with DCITA, ACMA and ACCC and projects will be defined and prioritised. Communications Alliance welcomes the resurgence of emphasis on the need to drive Australia’s broadband future and is committed to working with industry resources to ensure the timely delivery of industry arrangements to support the rollout of a FTTN network. The draft Work Plan already identifies project areas and these will be developed into concrete work areas. The projects will take into account the outcomes from the members forum held on 28 February on the technical aspects of a FTTN access regime. Following presentations from Alcatel-Lucent, Telstra, the G9 and Commander, the participants identified 2 work streams to move forward: the technical and inter-operator requirements such as billing, ordering and interconnection capacity, and the commercial principles applicable. It is imperative that the migration to the new regime is well-planned and executed so that the cut-over of our customers is a smooth experience for them. The transition to the broadband environment provides another opportunity for the industry to work on a co-operative programme to migrate customers to a new era of competitive and innovative communications services – another opportunity for the industry to lead and take responsibility for the future. Anne Hurley |
