Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Mason for his question and for his ongoing interest in the rollout of advanced telecommunications services to all Australians. Improved mobile phone coverage and increased access to broadband are important telecommunication issues for Australian consumers, particularly for those living in rural and regional Australia. That is why I was very pleased to welcome the ahead-of-schedule launch of Telstra’s national $1 billion Next G network last week. The network will provide improved voice and broadband services to around 98 per cent of the Australian population.

According to Telstra, the Next Generation network is expected to deliver peak broadband speeds of up to 3.6 megabits, which will increase to 14.4 megabits next year. Importantly, Telstra estimates that the network could deliver up to 40 megabits by 2009. Any investment that can increase both the speed and the availability of choice of broadband to Australians is indeed welcome.

With Hutchison, Optus and Vodafone having launched or about to launch 3G mobile networks, Australians will be able to choose between a rich mix of services and applications. This is competitive telecommunications at work in Australia. The productivity benefits for business and the improvement of consumers’ ability to access both entertainment and information services that will flow from these networks are indeed very welcome.

Telstra’s Next G will replace the well-known and much valued regional CDMA network. Whilst the network upgrade is welcome, the government will ensure that during the transition to Next G there will be no deterioration in service to rural and regional Australia. To that end I have sought and obtained an assurance from Telstra that rural and regional areas will enjoy the same, or indeed improved, coverage and services after the switch-over. I have also asked the Australian Communications and Media Authority to undertake independent audits of both the existing CDMA and the Next Generation networks. Investments in Next G are a very welcome addition to the telecommunications landscape in Australia and will complement the $1.1 billion Connect Australia investment package to ensure that more Australians can access affordable broadband and mobile phone services.

I am asked whether there are any alternative policies. I say, ‘Yes, I think there’s a plethora of them.’ Senator Conroy called for a broadband of 10 megabits per second faster, calling any less ‘fraud band’. Then Mr Beazley came out with a plan for a broadband of six megabits per second. It is no wonder that Senator Conroy pretty quickly revised his ‘fraud band’. Then there was Labor’s grand plan to deliver fibre, except it was based on Telstra’s fibre-to-the-node proposal, together with robbing the Communications Fund and Broadband Connect of a couple of billion dollars in order to deliver a program that was unobtainable. We are yet to hear about how Labor will plug every Australian into the world and make every book available online.

Labor are hopelessly confused on telecommunications policy. We know that they are unable to appreciate the way in which new technology has simply moved on—whether it is in media or in telecommunications—whereas the government are getting on with the hard work of improving Australia’s telecommunications industry through today’s launch of the T3 share offer. (Time expired)