Broadband Monopoly: Regulator Required for High-Speed Step Back in Time

Who'll keep an eye on the biggest publicly funded infrastructure project in Australian history? With the recent signing of an A$11 billion agreement allowing the planned National Broadband Network to use dominant telco Telstra's existing network and infrastructure to rollout fibre-optic cables connecting 93% of the populace, the A$36 billion NBN now looks set to be a "massive" monopoly. That's why a separate independent regulator is essential, insists Michael Peters, a lecturer in Taxation and Business Law at the Australian School of Business. Currently, the government is making up the rules for the NBN is it goes along, he claims. And its efforts to get Australia up to speed with the Internet are taking the nation back to the future.