Broadband internet in Australia

Labor's proposed a Government rollout of broadband internet, which I think is a pretty lame idea, but not for same reason Andrew Leigh does. Better network services are available to almost every Australian right now, Telstra's network reaches everyone but they doesn't see ubiquitous cheap access as a good business plan.

And when I talk about cheap, ubiquitous access I'm not necessarily talking about superwizzyfast Multi-megabit 'fibre-to-the-node' connections, although that'd be nice. 'Old-fashioned' services like ISDN are available almost everywhere and would provide reliable, always on, medium capacity links to almost every house and office in the country. This is a fantastic platform for service delivery and that's where the big positive externalities are, not in any particular service but delivering many services.

So if Telstra won't do it and it's in the national interest to provide this platform, why shouldn't the government nationalise the network? It was built with public money and the Government still has substantial equity. Telstra could continue as a private service provider and be free of most of regulation that currently binds them. You might also look at other layer one (physical) providers - like Optus and their HFC cable network. Aarnet and Grangenet shouldn't be off limits either.

By consolidating the national network(s) we can provide a stable foundation for all those new and exciting things we hear so much about, and encourage innovation.