Top Ten Myths behind Fibre Policy by Peter J. Cox [MEDIA POLICY] Saturday, September 11, 2010, 09:00 AM I had hoped that the decision by the independents to determine which party formed the government would not be based on the respective NBN policies of the two major parties as the debate is based on a number of false assumptions. As a result I had refrained from publishing my analysis during the election period to avoid it being viewed as politically motivated as I believe broadband policy should be determined by what is in the best interests of all Australians, not on political point scoring. However, the claimed statement by key independent Tony Windsor following a meeting with the Department of Broadband that he had been convinced “You do it once, you do it right, you do it with fibre” prompted me to publish. On what basis could the Department be giving such advice as there is no international evidence to support such a contention and the US and the UK for example do not have such a policy? Further the communications Minister Stephen Conroy told Sky News “that if you want to give people equivalence in regional and rural Australia, you need the technology that can deliver…that is clearly a fibre-based broadband network”. All broadband will be fibre based but if the Minister means that fibre should be provided to 93% of Australian homes where is the technical or economic evidence to support such a contention. Other countries have a universal broadband service plan without building fibre to nearly all homes. In my paper I examine within an international context the myths perpetrated for providing fibre to the home and why no major economy is proposing such expensive government expenditure. Read more    [email story]

Peter Cox interviewed on Twisted Wire [DIGITAL TRENDS] Thursday, June 17, 2010, 04:28 PM Who will be the content king? Phil Dobbie the host of Twisted Wire writes "Right now, all over the world, a battle is being fought. Everyone knows that we will soon be watching a significant amount of IPTV, but who will profit from this shift? Existing TV companies have agreements in place with the content providers, but internet service providers have a strong relationship with the end user." Listen to the interview http://www.zdnet.com.au/blogs/twisted-wire/ Read more    [email story]

Peter Cox on The World Cup - "Frank sack the coach" [DIGITAL TRENDS] Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 04:49 PM Peter was interviewed after Australia's loss to Germany in the World Cup on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald giving "some passionate advice to the boss of Football Federation Australia boss Frank Lowy". June 15, 2010 Read more    [email story]

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