In a reversal of events, Telstra, being the former telecoms monopoly, is trying to take on NBN Co, the monopoly that displaced it. I am sure that many of you still remember the enormous battles that took place in the 1990s and early 2000s between Telstra on one side and the rest of the industry, […]
Telecommunications
This section covers all the strategic, regulatory and political issues in relation to the overall telecommunications market – both national and international issues. It discusses business and investment models and strategic market and industry developments.
Internet of Things requires a rethink of business models.
There certainly is a lot of interest in machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the internet of things (IoT). But what we are seeing is only what is happening on the surface. Most of the M2M activities are taking place unnoticed. For example, most newly produced electronic devices are now all M2M enabled. Over 100 million smart […]
Hassle over LEOs
The following article is based on a blog written by my Dutch colleague Fred Kappetijn. We have worked together to present this to you. Every second, 4.5 billion people using computers and other electronic devices send 100,000 gigabytes of information to each other. Around 60% of the world’s population has an internet connection. North America […]
Digital economy essential for regional Australia
Back in the early 1990s, I was a founding board member of Service Providers Action Network (SPAN), which later became part of Communications Alliance. The key aim of this organisation was the promotion of new value-added services that could be provided over the telecommunications network. At this time there was no public internet and we […]
The problem is not technology but politicians and their ideology
The world we live in has reached a critical juncture. We are faced with many challenges and the decisions we will now make will define our future. The recent bushfires in Australia and the global coronavirus pandemic are bringing the message very close to home. These developments should be enough to seriously start looking at […]
Encouraging online lessons from the corona crisis
The players in the telecommunications industry have decisively reacted to the COVID-19 crisis. The NBN is holding up and the company is effectively implementing a range of measures for those who rely on it. Equally, the support from the major telcos and the digital players has been first-class and, where needed, the industry is working […]
Cracks appearing in Trump’s Huawei boycott
It must have been a galling experience for President Trump when his good mate British Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to step in line with Trump’s demand that the UK should also boycott the Chinese firm Huawei by not allowing them to be involved in the roll out of 5G in Britain. However, the involvement […]
Suggestions for a national telecoms emergency plan
For follow up information since the start of this discussion see: https://paulbudde.com/blog/economic-social-and-political-issues-ict/follow-up-news-national-telecommunications-emergency-plan/ In October, the bushfires started around Bucketty. While Bucketty has so far been safe (fires are hovering at around 10 to 15 kilometres from this community now for several months), the people here are totally exhausted. On several occasions, families had to be […]
Australia leads the South East Asian data centre market
Australia has progressed to now be one of the four major sub-markets for data centres in Asia alongside Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. As data centres become larger and more efficient, new data centres are generally being built in centralised areas, mainly in the larger cities of Sydney and Melbourne, in order to achieve the […]
Monetising solutions for the telcos
Developments in the telecommunications industry and the broader digital economy have opened up many new markets over the last few decades. Telecoms has changed from a more or less standalone, horizontally-organised industry to one that has become a key facilitator in a range of vertical markets. The keyword that is used to indicate that change […]
The privatisation of the NBN
Last week, TelSoc organised a panel discussion about the privatisation of the NBN, as is foreshadowed in the NBN legislation of 2009. The presenters were Professor Peter Gerrand, consultant and ex-Telstra executive Dr Jim Holmes, former chairman of the ACCC Graeme Samuel and executive general manager of the ACCC Infrastructure Regulation division Michael Cosgrave. The […]
NBN Co’s gain is the retailer’s loss
However, as we have heard now for over a year, this has been at the costs of the margins of the retail service providers. NBN Co’s high wholesale prices have squeezed margins for some of them to close to 10%. Companies such as Telstra were used to margins of 30-40%. Without any wholesale infrastructure competition, […]
Are the telcos crying wolf?
We recently have heard a lot of complaining from the telecommunications companies in relation to the margin squeeze they experience from NBN Co. While they certainly do have a point, it is also important to look at the other side of the coin. Why have the telcos allowed this situation to happen in the first […]
Will the data retention scheme result in a cost blow out for the roll-out of 5G?
Optus recently requested a proper investigation by the Government in relation to a potential data storage cost blowout to retain 5G metadata. This is data that labels information about other data such as files, videos, instructions, images and so on. The telcos are now required by law to collect and store metadata and to make […]
The NBN and Net Neutrality
While the network neutrality debate mainly applies in the U.S., it recently flared up in Australia when NBN Co discussed separate pricing regimes for video-based infrastructure. Net neutrality is breached when telecommunication companies provide a preferential pricing regime for companies offering video-based service. This basically creates a two-tiered system: a premium service for those providers […]
The West is shooting itself in its IT foot
In our globalised economy, it is important that we do establish levels of fair trade and the U.S. is right in addressing that issue. However, making technology a key element of the trade war will backfire. Let’s take (again) the Huawei issue as an example. The company has admitted that the U.S/ boycott is hitting […]
Have we reached ‘Peak Telecom’ and what does this mean for 5G
“Peak telecom” is described as the maximum point of expansion reached by the traditional telecommunications industry before the internet commoditised the industry to a utility pipe. I had to think of this when I read the recent outcomes of the famous Ericsson Consumer Lab survey. The company used the result of the survey to counteract market criticism […]
Telecoms wish list for the new minister.
With a new government and a new Minister for Communication in place it is an appropriate time to start looking at the telecommunications issues that need to be addressed. I welcome the new Minister Paul Fletcher as he is by far the best qualified in government to take on the telecoms portfolio. I know him […]
Trade war is turning into a technology war
President Trump knows that in the current trade war the Huawei issue is perhaps one of the most important issues for the Chinese government. It directly undermines the Chinese prestige and the ban create global anxiety. This is resulting in discussions in many countries, assessing their relationship with China. It highlights the domination of the […]
Can Macquarie Bank run a niche mobile service?
Macquarie Bank Is going to launch a mobile product in the telecoms market. This is an interesting development.. It doesn’t happen that often that an investment itself launches a mobile service, to be known as Nu Mobile. Even more remarkable is that it launches a niche mobile service known as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator […]
The Huawei issue in the broader context of global politics
It is very sad to see that Huawei has become a victim of US-China trade war politics and it will be very interesting to see how their court case against the US Government will pan out, the company claims that the ban of its products is “unconstitutional”. There is no indication that Huawei has been […]
The death of competition
Competition has worked well for many decades after World War II, especially since the 1970s and 1980s when, thanks to liberal policies, competition made a wonderful job of creating the dynamic world we now live in. But is liberalism now turning against us? Has competition peaked? Is it still delivering those dynamic benefits? The signs […]
Telecommunications in Armenia
You might recall my recent visit to Armenia, where I had several smart city discussions. Of course, it was with great interest that I read BuddeComm’s new report on Armenia, a country that I will keep an eye on and certainly a country that warrants the attention of innovators, start-ups and investors as a range […]
New opportunities to open up the mobile market.
In my various media comments on TPG’s withdrawal from the mobile network market, I commented on the one side that the government’s ban on Huawei was a great excuse for the company to abandon its ambitious infrastructure plans. Building such a new network doesn’t make economic sense, especially within the context of a merger with […]
Cybersecurity is failing big-time and this is hard to fix.
It has become clear that having a big cybersecurity war room is not enough to deliver true end-to-end security throughout the complex networks, systems and structures on which our modern society is based. Furthermore, looking at the forever changing draconian government interventions in this space, it is also obvious that they are often stabbing in […]
Could cybersecurity become a new driver for business transformation?
My involvement in the ICT industry over the last 40 years has always been to look at the strategic advantages that new technologies have to offer. I entered the industry through a proto-internet development called videotext. I looked at this technology, at what organisations could do with it, and assisted, for example, in the 1980s […]
Happy New Year – The NBN and the Australian Telecoms Year ahead.
I hope that those of you who celebrated Christmas enjoyed being together with families and friends, and that everyone took the opportunity for a break from the everyday world. Happily the holiday season continues so most of us will have a bit more relaxing time ahead. And of course the new year is upon us. […]
Christmas Blog – Political, economic and cultural effects of connectivity, communications, surveillance and data analysis
This is a good time of the year to reflect on our industry and its place in today’s society – not so much in respect of all of the important issues of the day, or from the year past, but on the broader developments in society in which our industry plays a key role and […]
Infratech reality or marketing plot.
Infratech seems to be a new buzzword in our world of technology. It covers the area of convergence between technology and infrastructure. I have been involved in this market since its early beginnings, some 25 years ago (since the internet became mainstream) and I have seen first-hand how difficult it is to marry the two […]
The Huawei and ZTE issue is political not technical
Huawei and ZTE have now been banned by the Australian government from being involved in the development of 5G networks. However it is important to state that this is a political issue not a technical one. There is no evidence whatsoever that some clever bits of technology have been added to networks designed and developed […]
Vodafone – TPG merger
While I would have loved to see TPG entering the mobile market to bring some good competition to it, in the end business sense has prevailed and Vodafone and TPG have decided to look at merging the two companies. The market has long been dominated by egos and that has made it difficult sometimes to […]
Telstra’s only option is cost cutting.
Comment This cost cutting was basically the only option out for Telstra in its current difficult situation. Over the last 30 years it has tried a lot of different things. I was at the launch of their Asia campaign in Geneva in 1992 where they claimed that by 2000, 25% of revenues would come from […]
Will 5G trigger smart city PPP collaboration?
As discussed in previous analyses, the arrival of 5G will trigger a totally new development in telecommunications. Not just in relation to better broadband services on mobile phones – it will also generate opportunities for a range of IoT (internet of things) developments that among other projects are grouped together under smart cities (feel free […]
Transition of the telecoms industry is overdue
It is interesting to observe the changes in the telecommunications environment over the last few decades. Before videotex (the predecessor of the internet) arrived in the late 1970s early 1980s, 90% of telecommunications revolved around telephone calls. And at that time telephony was still a luxury for many, as making calls was expensive. I remember […]
Nationalisation of American mobile networks opens up interesting discussions
A leaked document from the US indicates a proposal for a nationalised 5G network. Who would have thought this – coming from a country where even the slightest government intervention in the market is often reported as ‘communism’? It is nearly impossible to believe that this proposal will fly. It won’t get bipartisan support and […]
Mobile broadband is no alternative for fixed broadband
With a faltering NBN in Australia, many people in the media and outside the industry are suggesting that perhaps we don’t need an NBN at all as with new mobile technologies such as 5G the quality problem of broadband access in Australia could be solved in this way. This argument is not new, the Prime […]
What is the future for our mobile network operators?
‘Wireless is just one wire less’ or ‘Wireless is just spectrum wrapped around a fibre core” The Australian mobile telecommunication industry is continuing to resist structural changes, but the reality is that if they don’t transform, technology will do it for them. We have seen the fixed telecom operators slowly being pushed back into the […]
An NBN write down is now firmly on the agenda
It was interesting to see that the ACCC has now indicated that a different financial structure for the NBN might have to be the next major step in the Australian broadband saga. After it became clear that, following his proper election in 2016, the Prime Minister didn’t take the opportunity to introduce the essential structural […]
Vocus and TPG continue to challenge Telstra and Optus
TPG Telecom Limited acquired local ISP iiNet. TPG is now Australia’s second-biggest provider of fixed-line broadband in Australia with over 1.7 million customers. Services including voice, internet and data solutions are provided to a customer base ranging from the consumer market through to small and medium enterprises, corporate and government sectors. The company also owns a […]
Net neutrality not a serious issue in Australia
Most countries, including Australia, don’t have to fear internet quality problems in the same way as might be the case in the USA. The US competition watchdog has little power to hold telcos accountable for the nature of their broadband services. Back in 1996 broadband was classified as a content service and not a telecom […]
Australia’s top three Telcos face growing competition
Telstra is Australia’s largest telecommunications provider offering a full range of telecom services throughout Australia. The company provides basic access services to most homes and businesses, local and long-distance telephone call services, and mobile and internet services. Wholesale services are also provided to ISPs and RSPs while advertising and subscription television services are provided through subsidiary […]
Charles Todd Medal acceptance speech
This year I have been awarded with the prestigious Charles Todd Medal for Excellence in Communications. The presentation was done by Charles’ great-grandson Barry in the presence of representatives of the telecommunications industry at a luncheon organised by Telsoc. The Charles Todd Medal The award was established by ATUG (the Australian Telecommunications Users […]
Australia progressing as a major APAC data centre hub
BuddeComm describes ‘big data’ as looking at intelligent outcomes that can be achieved from data collaboration. The most critical issue here is strategic management, rather than technology. Big data has become a vital tool as competition is forcing many companies to transform their organisations from a company-centric approach to a customer-centric one. The fact that […]
The future NBN might look rather different
In all reality it looks like the multi-technology mix (MTM) as it is currently being rolled out by the nbn company is as good as it will get. Some Australians will have an excellent service, especially those on fibre-to-the-home (FttH) and fibre-to-the-curb (FttC) technologies. Others won’t see any difference from the current ADSL services they […]
Don’t look at Kenya, look at Sweden.
A recent article from Bloomberg on the NBN, in which I was also quoted, mentioned that Kenya had faster broadband than Australia. While that was true for a tiny part of that country, most people in Kenya don’t have speeds that high. The Australian Prime Minister jumped on that and ridiculed the Bloomberg comparison. […]
Upgrading the NBN with G.fast has its limitations
Quite coincidentally, at the same time that G.fast is being discussed in Australia a similar discussion is taking place in the USA; and there is doubt there too about the contribution that G.fast can make to improve the performance of the faltering broadband systems in both countries. G.fast is a band-aid solution that can be […]
The end of the Foxtel wars
The announcement of the proposed merger of Foxtel with Fox Sport Australia, combined with Telstra’s agreement to dilute its shareholding in the pay TV operator, paves the way for the end of the Foxtel war between News Corp Australia (formerly News Limited) and Telstra. The decline in revenue and subscriber numbers will most certainly have […]
Telstra: shareholders vs customers
It is worthwhile to analyse what is behind Telstra’s recent announcements that it will both cut its dividend and sell $5bn in future NBN revenue. These announcements drowned out the rather solid earnings for the previous financial year and an interesting program of capital investments in its existing network. While the NBN deals negotiated by […]
Australian National Broadband Network rollout finally gains momentum
Within the market there is a dynamic shift among customers to fibre networks, as this infrastructure is being built out by nbn (NBN Co), the company responsible for the national broadband deployment. Australia’s broadband sector is making improved progress in its migration to a multi-technology the NBN. Growth in the overall number of broadband subscribers […]
Telcos players in the US set to become even lazier
With all of the current turbulence in the American society it is no wonder that its telecommunications market is also under severe pressure. In his election campaign Trump promised his American supporters to make changes to what he called the Washington swamp, but it has become clear that the opposite is happening. While in previous […]
IoT network for farmers
Agriculture is forecast to be one of the key industries where the Internet of Things can make a significant contribution to Australia’s future growth and competitiveness. The future of farming is in collecting and analysing big data in order to maximise efficiency, mitigate risk and drive productivity. Connected farmers will be able to monitor and […]
Telecoms infrastructure and digital technologies lead the way
There are a number of industries leading the current changes brought about by the digital evolution – but none more so than the ICT industry. This sector alone has been transformational in developing the appropriate infrastructure, services and equipment required to underpin our societies of the future. The enormous shift towards digital technologies continues […]
People are ready for smart environments
With an increased awareness of the importance of digital infrastructure many local councils are disillusioned by not having access to infrastructure such as FttH and smart grids. The organisations involved in the delivery of this are slow in upgrading their infrastructure since in many cases they will not be the recipients of the benefits derived […]
Telecoms competition on a downhill slide in America
That is what happens when you base your telecommunications policies on the wrong foundations. The problems with the telecommunications industry in America go back to 1996, when the FCC decided that broadband in America should be classified as internet (being content) and that therefore it would not fall under the normal telecommunication regulations. Suddenly what […]
The broadband tax
From the moment this suggestion was first mooted I was strongly opposed to the broadband tax that the government proposed in December 2016. It will slam around $7 per month on fixed broadband subscriptions, making the price broadband services in Australia among the highest in the developed economies. The aim of the tax is to […]
The Next Big Thing
Last week I chaired a number of very well-attended sessions at the Connect Conference in Melbourne. My compliments to the organisers, who had gathered together a range of excellent speakers, very different from the commercially motivated group of speakers who so often feature at commercial conferences. The Plenary Opening session featured Dr Amanda Caples, the […]
Australia’s telco market grows slowly with mobile broadband driving growth
The overall telecoms services revenue reached over $42 billion in 2016, a growth of under 1% for the 12 months to June 2016. The overall market is predicted to grow at a stronger rate in 2017. The strongest growth is coming from the second tier providers, which grew at over 10% during that time period. […]
Australia progressing as a major APAC data centre hub
BuddeComm describes ‘big data’ as looking at intelligent outcomes that can be achieved from data collaboration. The most critical issue here is strategic management, rather than technology. Big data has become a vital tool as competition is forcing many companies to transform their organisations from a company-centric approach to a customer-centric one. The fact that […]
The effect of American politics
Having followed developments in the American telecoms market since the late 1980s, and having been involved with the Obama Administration in the development of their National Broadband Plan – at which time I was also invited to do a presentation at the White House – I do have some insights into the workings of the […]
The state of telecoms competition in Australia
fter the rowdy 1990s and early 00s the dust did settle a bit on the competition problems that continued during that period – more than 20 Inquiries, many court cases and ongoing regulatory corrections. The situation settled down somewhat with the arrival of a new CEO at Telstra, David Thodey in 2006. Subsequent changes to […]
Will Telstra be able to create a more affordable alternative to the NBN
If we go back to the early days of the NBN, now more than a decade ago, some of you might recall that from the very first day we have maintained that affordability was more important than the latest technology. I actually said that affordability was THE most important element of an NBN. Subsequent governments […]
ICT industry stands up against Trump
Trump’s first week in office has been an interesting, if shocking, one. While many other presidents have been blamed for not using their first 100 days in office to put their stamp on the direction of their presidency, Trump is most certainly doing this. And we no longer need to wonder whether his talk is […]
Telstra, Optus and Vodafone face increasing threat from 2nd Tier Market
The overall telecoms services revenue reached over $40 billion in 2016, a growth of 2.0% for the 12 months to June 2016. The overall market is predicted to grow more strongly in 2017. The strongest growth is coming from the second tier providers, which grew at over 10% during that time period. The market incumbent […]
From DSL to FttN, G.FAST, Fttdp, XG-FAST – building the NBN the tortuous way
In September 2016, NBN Co indicated its interest in a technology known as XG.Fast, it is a next level up from the G.Fast technology they started to trial in 2015 and it also needs to be seen in the yet still bigger picture of Fttdp (fibre to the distribution point). The development and deployment of […]
QUESS and Quantum Communications
In mid August China launched “QUESS” (Quantum Experiments at Space Scale), a new type of satellite that it hopes will be capable of “quantum communications” which is supposed to be hack-proof, through the use of “quantum entanglement”. This allows the operator to ensure that no one else is listening to your communications by reliably distributing […]
Flawed NBN structure undermines competition
Bevan Slattery’s scathing attack on ACCC boss Rod Sims in CommsDay might be a reflection of the attacker’s towering personality but he most certainly has a point. When the government changed the NBN policy from full fibre to mixed technology they fundamentally changed the nature of the project, including the underlying fundamentals. That being the case, […]
High-speed infrastructure takes hold – paving the way for revenue streams
Recently there was an important development for the broadband sector when the market share of fibre infrastructure lines finally overtook DSL technologies as the largest on a global level. The fixed broadband network is the infrastructure needed to meet the needs, both economic and societal, of the developed markets. In fact in many of these […]
Fibre optic technologies for the next 50 years
It might be hard to imagine but we were already talking about fibre to the home networks back in the 1970s and 1980s. This was in the early days of interactive TV and pay TV and fibre optics were already at that time seen as the next level of telecoms infrastructure needed for such services. […]
Populism and hi-tech
At a recent panel discussion in Berkeley, USA, the topic – The Moral Economy of Tech – was explored. The panel discussed the way hi-tech people in general view themselves and their work, and even though I am not an engineer or a developer of software and algorithms I could very much relate to that. I often […]
Tesla doing a Google in the Australian electricity industry?
Back in 2001 I established Utilitel, an industry alliance of all the major electricity companies in Australia. The initial set-up was aimed at looking at business opportunities for the utilities in the telecoms industry and over the subsequent years various new telecoms businesses were established by the utilities. Obviously this was a tough market and […]
The complexity of multifunctional smart city projects
One of the so-called low-hanging fruits in smart city plans is street lighting. Significant savings can be achieved by replacing the existing system with LED light and allowing for the management of light contingent on the level of traffic. This, of course, also results in cost savings. I discussed the street lighting project with my […]
China Continues to Evolve as a World Leader in the Digital Media Sector
The Chinese telecom market is the largest in the world in terms of subscribers and is undergoing transition. Mobile subscriptions outnumber fixed voice connections and voice is giving way to data as the primary revenue generator. China’s telecom market is served by three operators; China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile. All three are integrated […]
Is 5G over-hyped?
It probably is because we are so good at doing that in our industry. We start with over-promising and under-delivering and then in following years we fix it. So why would 5G be different? Our admirable technology companies are telling us that 5G will be 100x faster than 4G and that it will have 50x […]
Are blockchains the solution to financing smart cities?
One of the most difficult elements in the development of smart cities is how to finance them. Local government doesn’t have the money for it and while state and federal governments might have more money to spend there is no way that their current tax funds could pay for even a fraction of the investments […]
Why we need fibre-to-the-farm
One of the discussions I am currently having with my international colleagues is about the international trend towards urbanisation and the resulting shift of political, economic and financial powers from centralised states and federal structures to mega-city or mega-urban region centres. Some of my American colleagues expressed the fear that this would further marginalise rural […]
Government-industry collaboration is better than developing a surveillance state.
In a recent speech President Obama again stressed the need for better collaboration between the tech industry and the government. He referred to his own White House initiative – this has resulted in the newly-formed US Digital Service, which is trying to recruit the tech industry to work with and for government. One of the key reasons […]
Smart Cities and the open data dilemma
Many city councils are grappling with the big data issue. A key driver for their city to become smarter is to provide citizens with access to data sets that they can use to build new applications and services. As mentioned before, the smartest city will be the one with the smartest apps. On the one […]
VR demand set to grow, but little prospect for telcos
Over the last 20 years or so we have regularly revisited the developments in virtual reality (VR). I remember experiencing VR for the first time in the late 1980s, so this technology has been in the making for a very long time. And we are still uncertain about its growth over the next decade. There […]
Will telcos become the OTT players in smart energy?
As I am involved in both the smart energy and the telecoms market I am in a good position to make comparisons and observations in relation to these utility markets. I have been following the telecoms market for over 30 years and the electricity market for 15+ years – in both cases well and truly […]
The end of our printed era – 1983-2015 Telecoms & Broadband Business Newsletter
After 32 years of publishing the monthly Telecommunications Newsletter in print, we have reached the end of our printed era. We were the first telecommunications newsletter to be printed in Australia but it will now only be available online, where it continues as a free weekly newsletter to some 4,000 customers, as well as a blog (2,000 […]
Most M2M activity is taking place unnoticed
There certainly is a lot of interest in the M2M and Internet of Everything (IoT) market in 2016. But what we are seeing is only what is happening on the surface. Most of the M2M activities are taking place unnoticed. For example, all new electronic devices are now M2M devices. Tens of millions of smart […]
The Internet Monopoly
The all-powerful social network sites People are increasingly becoming aware of the emerging ‘internet monopoly’. Companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and many the other (local) social network and media sites are becoming so large and powerful that they can dictate the use of their services in such a way that people lose control over […]