Last April NBNCo chief Bill Morrow floated the idea that a levy should be charged to infrastructure competitors to subsidise the cost of broadband delivery to regional Australia. Last month Malcolm Turnbull said he thought it was a good idea.
This week on CrossTalk we look at the idea and other ways to meet the cost of regional coverage, including a broader industry levy, auctioning of access rights or moving the expense onto the federal budget.
The pros and cons are discussed with:
Prof. Stephen King, Professor of Economics at Monash University
David Havyatt, former Special Adviser to Senator Stephen Conroy
Dean Lockwood, Director at Telco7
Andrew Franz, engineer, project manager and software developer
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Avoid a Miliband Media Moment
The UK’s Labor leader Ed Miliband gave a rather unsual interview this week. He answered five questions with exactly the same answer, almost word for word.
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US inflation numbers hit shares, bond markets more restrained
The market focus was on the US CPI print overnight says NAB’s Skye Masters, with a surprise lift in the core number. That’s hit shares, and front end yields, but less movement in longer dated bonds suggest markets haven’t changed their view of the end-game for the Fed.
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NBN Co, ‘tell us the price’
So far the government and the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) have called for our support for a scheme that is scant on detail.
