The Australian IIA covers a smaller ISP market than the United States, but it still has its work cut out for it. The government is more interventionist and owns the only ILEC in town. How does an association deal with a government monopoly?

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Associate Editor [April 24, 2001]

The Australian IIA is 80 percent funded by membership dues and 20 percent funded by event sponsorships. Annual fees, aimed at enabling small businesses to join, are charged on a sliding scale depending on the size of the business, but start at A$ 275.

Peter Coroneos, Executive Director (and "employee number one") of the Australian IIA, was in Washington recently to testify about Australia's self-regulatory regime.

Winning in Australia
"We've had several major wins in Australia," Coroneos noted.

Top of the list of wins is a code of practice regarding content filtering. "We wanted to empower users," said Coroneos. Compliance with the code of practice (available here) is monitored by the IIA, which notes that 78 percent of small ISPs are in compliance, and 100 percent of large ISPs are in compliance.

Other successes include working to clarify Australia's copyright law so that ISPs were not responsible for the actions of subscribers, an initiative undertaken after a member was sued for "authorizing copyright infringement."

Coroneos also noted that some copyright lawyers wanted royalties on cached content until the law was clarified.

Coroneos added that the government was initially seen as "a common enemy on many issues such as content regulation" and that this initial perception of commonality among Internet businesses in Australia unified those businesses so that they continue to work together more closely in Australia than in the United States.

Other success are posted on the IIA site and include work on disability access, privacy protection, digital TV, and streaming media. IIA posts the latest news here.

Only one ILEC in Australia
The Australian ISP market is complicated by the fact that Telstra is a government-owned backbone provider that has a retail ISP. Both Telstra and its competitors are members.

[internet.com's Australian site, australia.internet.com, noted recently that several small ISP complained about Telstra]

Telstra cannot issue stock to raise capital, but it was partially floated. Although in the position of a government utility, the company also does have private shareholders who were induced to buy by the government. It is both a wholesaler and a retailer. It has a Universal Service Obligation (obligation to provide rural service) and some rural voters fear that any further privatization of Telstra might affect its USO—and their connection to the Internet.

Nevertheless, many are arguing that Telstra should be split into separate wholesale and retail operations. Australia's regulator, the ACCC has heard questions about Telstra's market conduct. Some ISPs complain that Telstra's retail price is too close to its wholesale price and that Telstra therefore remains a monopoly.

Coroneos noted, "the Australian market is highly competitive, with over 600 players of various sizes. AOL is a late entrant into the market and has been unable to establish the dominance that it has in the U.S. In many respects it is in the same position as peering/interconnection access seekers in the U.S. Telstra is widely seen within the industry as being the main impediment to widespread deployment of DSL, and in many respects the issues mirror those in the US where the ILECs have been accused of unfair practices in unbundling network elements within their control."

Meanwhile, the usual scams persist. For example, the ACCC's advice to Australian Internet consumers is no different than the advice you would give to an Internet subscriber anywhere else in the first world.

Coroneos said his job is to "take the best position for the entire industry and make sure that all our members understand the position and the reasoning behind it."

— End

 

Related articles:
	[Mar. 23, 2001]	USIIA
	[Mar. 23, 2001]	Top Eight ISPs Dominate Australian Market
	[Aug. 25, 2000]	Telstra's Australian Disconnect