Keep Infrastructure Costs Low, Says ACS
Tuesday 8 April 1997 - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has called on the Government to maintain its stand for small business by legislating to prevent Telstra from charging for timed local data calls.
The ACS welcomed last month’s small business initiatives but said in failing to address the infrastructure issues, the Government may have undone some of the good by leaving small business open to bearing the brunt of call charge increases.
"With the passage of the telecommunications legislation without exemptions for business from timed local calls, the way is open for Australia’s 30,000 small businesses using the Internet to have increased charges levied through timed local data calls or by increased charges for access to Internet services," said ACS Vice President, Prins Ralston.
"As welcome as Senator Alston’s stand may have been against allowing Telstra to introduce timed local calls in any form to reap profits from the lucrative Internet access market for residential customers, the ACS is concerned that the real burden will fall onto small business if this sector is not afforded the same protection from increases.
"Timed charges for local data calls would add significantly to the cost of using the Internet, taking it beyond the reach of many small businesses which might otherwise embrace the exciting opportunities of this technology.
"For Australia to take a leadership role in this part of the world, our IT&T infrastructure must be accessible to all businesses at a cost that makes them competitive with the rest of the region," he said.
The ACS says moves to allow Internet Service Provider to be charged at the back end would see the cost of Internet Access soar for small business as well as residential customers.
"According to research by NUS International, Australia already has the most expensive local call charges in the world. Small businesses and emerging Australian Internet content providers cannot support this sort of proposed infrastructure impost from telecommunication providers."
Mr Ralston said IT&T cost increases would mean:
* Small business would need to reconsider their use of the Net, slowing down acceptance of these technologies and the cost reduction and market expansion they could deliver;
* IT & T industry players - especially service and content providers - would be unable to compete with their international counterparts;
* Average community users would stop using the Internet, becoming the information poor.
"The cost base for Australian industries is already significantly higher than the overseas competition and this will make it even more prohibitive," said Mr Ralston.
"Telstra arguments that the Internet users are clogging up voice networks were firmly rejected by the Senate inquiry and the industry and have been proven to be unfounded in other countries, so that is not a valid argument.
"The Internet is a growth area worldwide for the community, small business and the IT&T industry. If Telstra and others are allowed to target the Internet for easy revenues by increasing connection and access cost via the back door, it could well be to the detriment of Australia’s future," he said.
This media release is located on the Web at http://www.acs.org.au/news/charges.htm
ENDS
Media Enquiries:
Prins Ralston, ACS Vice President, Tel: (0889) 466 264 or (0418) 898 456, Email: p_ralston@darwin.ntu.edu.au
Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9630 2108 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au
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