ACS Calls for Acceleration of Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure
Thursday 18 March 1999 - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has called for Telstra to pass on some of its enormous profits to reduce costs and speed up the deployment of regional infrastructure.
The call follows the release of the latest Telecommunications Benchmarking Report by the Productivity Commission, which showed Australians pay above average prices for telecommunications services when compared to other OECD countries.
ACS President, Prins Ralston, said it was unacceptable that Australians paid between 20 and 40 per cent more for telecommunications services considering Telstra's recently announced half yearly profit of $1.8 billion.
"The only area where Australia ranked highly was in mobile services for business, where intense competition has forced the major players to operate more efficiently," he said.
"Given that the Commission itself sees room for improvement by Telstra, we're calling for an immediate response in the form of reduced costs and an accelerated timeframe for the rollout of new products and services, particularly to regional areas.
"Some of Telstra's recently announced profits could be used to deliver tangible benefits to remote Australians and ensure they are fully equipped to play their part in the information age."
Mr Ralston said Telstra should do more to provide cost-effective infrastructure, technical equipment and services to Australian businesses, regardless of their location, to enable them to compete with other nations throughout the region.
"For Australia to fulfil our potential in the information economy and play a leadership role in this part of the world, telecommunications services must be accessible to all businesses at a cost that makes them competitive," he said.
This media release is located on the ACS web site at http://www.acs.org.au/news/benchmrk.htm
ENDS
Media Enquiries:
Prins Ralston, ACS President, Tel: (0411) 755 069, Email: prins@bmconsult.com.au
Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au
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