Gary McLaren, Author at Kim Wingerei - writer, translator, poet, traveller

NBN Co admits to significant competition impacts

Dec 12, 2022

“NBN Co needs to be a monopoly wholesale provider for it to be economically viable”. This was the view espoused by Dr Ziggy Switkowski after being appointed chairman of NBN Co by the Coalition in 2013 to implement its ‘Faster, Affordable, Sooner” version of the NBN....

Surely the NBN Co writedown is nigh

Dec 4, 2022

The debate over the value of NBN Co is back in the headlines. This was triggered by NBN Co’s offer in its latest Special Access Undertaking variation to cap its ability to recover losses it has made on its investment in building and operating the network. These losses...

Sustainable Investment in Regional Broadband – submission to Productivity Commission

Nov 7, 2022

The Productivity Commission is inquiring into Australia’s Data and Digitial Dividend. I have made a submission on ‘Investing in Regional Digital Infrastructure’ and below are my introductory remarks to the commission’s public hearing held on 7 November 2022. The...

TPG and Optus fight just the latest drama over Australia’s bush telegraph

Oct 6, 2022

The ‘bush telegraph’ is the colloquial term for how information is informally transmitted around the rural and outback regions of Australia. It is also an appropriate description of how Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure has not kept up to date with the...

ACCC highlights that the Lib-Nat Coalition did not fix the NBN

May 30, 2022

This post was first published in the Australian Financial Review on 30 May 2020. Immediately after the election had been put behind us the ACCC released NBN Co’s proposed new Special Access Undertaking which, if accepted, would govern the prices of fixed...

Is the ACCC protecting telco consumers or fattening up NBNCo for sale?

Jul 30, 2021

This post was featured in Michael West Media (michaelwest.com.au) on 31 July 2021. Is the ACCC helping the Government get the best price for the sale of NBNCo? The competition regulators are doing consumers no favours hindering investment in new telco infrastructure....

Minister hands special Statement of Expectations to the ACCC – what is going on behind the scenes?

Oct 28, 2020

The Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, Paul Fletcher, has issued a special Statement of Expectations (SoE) to the ACCC regarding its telecommunications-related functions on 9 October 2020. This new SOE apparently sits alongside the generic SoE...

Deep Dive into UK Broadband success with FTTP

Oct 15, 2020

I recently was invited to present to the Australian Telecommunications Associations (TelSoc) and chose to present on what has been happening on the broadband scene in the United Kingdom over recent years. Of particular interest to me is how the UK market is...

Coalition doubles down on the NBN monopoly – but can it defend itself in the upcoming battle with 5G?

Sep 28, 2020

NBN Co’s latest 2020 Corporate Plan was announced last week with the headline being a substantial $4.5 billion investment in deeper fibre for both enterprise and residential customers. This has been welcomed by many and seen as a vindication of the original NBN plan...

What now for the NBN? Answers to questions from iTWire.

Jul 19, 2020

I have been asked by iTWire to provide my thoughts on where the NBN should go from here as the rollout of the network is announced as completed. The article appeared on 20 July 2020 and can be read here. My full answers to the questions submitted are as follows : I...