Broadband is costing us (Wangaratta)

Provider claims we’re paying too much, for too little, and it is costing Wangaratta business

Written by TRISH GALLAGHER. - source: Wangaratta Chronicle

BROADBAND that is too expensive and sub-standard is restricting business growth in Wangaratta, a local access provider has claimed.

WangNET’s Geoff Turnbull said there wouldn’t be a week go by without someone from Melbourne who is thinking of moving to the area enquiring about a broadband connection.

"It’s a shock to them when they find out what we have to pay, and how poor the speeds are, and that includes both domestic and business customers," Mr Turnbull said.

"There are a lot of potential businesses who change their mind about relocating here when they find out what the service is like..it’s costing us."

Mr Turnbull said he pays around $120 a month for sub-standard home internet access, 10km from Wangaratta, compared with his brother in Melbourne who pays $30 for a much better service.

He claims the problem is the structure of Telstra, which, unlike in the electricity system, both owns the network and has a retail arm, causing a conflict of interest.

"Governments have funded Telstra to provide ADSL at most Australian exchanges," Mr Turnbull said.

"When Telstra enabled all of its exchanges, it put in ADSL2+ equipment in most cases, but only enabled it to ADSL1.

"ADSL1 has a range of four to five kilometres from an exchange, and a maximum speed of eight megabits per second.

"ADSL2+, the minimum standard for most of the world, has a range of 15km at 20-24 megabits per second.

"Under the broadband guarantee and previous programs, the government said Telstra had to allow competitive access, so it makes only ADSL1 available.

"If a competitor wants ADSL2+, they have to put in their own equipment.

"As soon as this is almost complete, Telstra immediately switches the exchange to ADSL2+ and signs up customers to its own long contracts."

The solution, said Mr Turnbull, is to restructure Telstra to separate its network arm from its retail business.

"If the exchanges and network were owned by a standalone entity, there would be an incentive to build a better network, allowing all internet service providers to offer better services," he said.

"The government should immediately use its remaining Telstra holdings to restructure the organisation and buy back as much of the network as possible.

"At present, there is no incentive for Telstra to develop the network because it then has to give access to competitors, which it does not want to do."