I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
It feels the goal to promote broadband infrastructure as a major discussion issue has been successful. Over the last few days there have been several articles that cover it.
On Saturday the issue held the front page of the Dominion Post business section. Marta Steeman’s article “how to cut the knot”, got the essence of the option I’ve floated accurately.
…Rod Drury is calling on the Government to split off Telecom’s network and run it as a state-owned enterprise, but essentially as a coordinator, not with an open cheque-book
This morning TelstraClear CEO Allan Freeth issued an opinion piece that was inaccurate and surprisingly low quality given his recent missive. I thought he should have have put a bit more effort into the issue.
- No one is talking about a free public network. Consumers expect to pay.
- The Wellington City Council has not committed to any strategy or spend yet and have been very responsible in seeking consultation from all parties. The stage of the process is that the consultation and request for concepts is just about to start. If I was him I would have congratulated the council and got engaged.
- Talk of duplication or any specific spend is premature, not useful and transparently alarmist.
Clearly the Telstra CEO has a lot on his mind with the Tauranga back down and the new information that Vodafone might kneecap them by stopping the 029 arrangement, but you would expect better quality research and communications from the CEO of a major Telco. In these days of blogging and the emotion around this issue you just can’t throw stuff out there. Don’t drive, email or write an opinion piece angry.
In contrast, Marko is sounding much more like the new Telecom CEO with their follow up: clean split is better for country. They are listening to the industry and being very conciliatory. Still seems strange, but good.
I’m quickly becoming a fan of Marko. He is impressive and his understated style is gradually being unlocked with a clever comms strategy. It’s good to see leadership and logic from Telecom - they are our national provider.
Tom Pullar-Strecker has the 3rd article in this mornings paper and is also on issue.
…Telecom has managed to put investment squarely on the regulatory agenda
He concludes with
…it would be all to easy to create a Netco that, after the initial spurt, had less incentive to innovate or invest in the network than Telecom did a year ago …
I’m excited that the right things are now being discussed. I’m not saying that my model is necessarily the right one but it should be considered. I still argue that it is the most obvious and logical solution.
Again the pressure swings back to Government (and the conspicuously silent Opposition). The industry has begun discussion, the issues are on the table. A workshop is required to nail this important decision for all New Zealanders.
Here are some suggested actions
- Someone from Government needs a clear mandate to move the debate forward towards a solution
- There needs to be a structured process where the issue can be worked on collaboratively. An inital day long forum would suffice as step one
- There needs to be a study to quantify the public good of Broadband. This is a key quantification that will guide decision making
- A number of alternatives need to be put forward and evaluated
While it is great the discussion is happening. Right now we have complete uncertainty. This stops investment. Action is required.
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