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Print

Terria's Egan the right man for the job

1 August 2008

Posted by: Rod Bruem

Topic: Telstra , Shareholder

Tags:    accc  blog  fttn  michael-egan  national-broadband-network  rod-bruem  sydney  terria  the-telstra-phile

Singapore might be half a world away from Sydney, however the Singapore Telecom board showed a great deal of local nous when it appointed prominent Sydney-sider Michael Egan to head the so-called "Terria consortium".

Terria is the SingTel Optus front set up to stop Telstra investing in a national fibre broadband network and Mr Egan is the former NSW Treasurer whose most famous legacy is Sydney's Cross City underground tollway.

As far as private/public infrastructure projects go, Sydney's Cross City car tunnel would have to be one of the world's biggest cock-ups.

At a time when other global cities were moving to charge people tolls to enter city CBDs so as to reduce traffic congestion, Mr Egan and fellow travellers had the bright idea to do things the opposite way around - that is make it free to drive through the city, but whack them with a toll if they bypass it using the tunnel.

Not surprisingly, Sydney drivers have avoided Mr Egan's tunnel like the plague and the company behind the project went bankrupt.

Today Sydney drivers pay $4.01 to drive just 2.1 kilometres of underground motorway.

But the worst part of all is the chaos endured by those drivers trying to get into the city along William St, which has been transformed into a traffic nightmare in an attempt to force drivers to use the tunnel.

What was once a wide street with three smooth lanes of traffic in each direction is now a mish-mash, with various streams of traffic cutting across each other to the point of gridlock for several hours each day.

If Mr Egan's aim was to frustrate the people of Sydney, then he has succeeded beyond belief.

So you ask, how could a man who knows zip all about telecommunications and has such an abysmal record on private/public infrastructure projects be the ideal candidates to run Terria's bid for the FTTN tender?

The answer is that Mr Egan's job is not really about building anything, but rather to frustrate and delay the process as long as possible so Optus and its partners can continue to cream profits off the old copper courtesy of the ACCC setting access prices below cost.

Mr Egan clearly has world-class credentials when it comes to creating frustration and delay - just ask anyone driving down William Street. He also happens to have great political contacts.

As the FTTN tender process continues to slip further behind schedule and Australians are forced to wait even longer for world-class broadband, it looks like SingTel has chosen the right man for the job.

Comments

Trevor Palmer
1 comment
4 August 2008
6:29pm

Comment Permalink

Rod, I have resisted becoming a memeber for too long. You seem to be at your best when you resort to extravagant "wordsmithing" and what I see as non professional conduct. It may be your opinion but as you are an employee/spokesman of Telstra views you should stick to the facts and not get into opinionated rhetoric. BTW I agree with your thread but not the way you express yourself. Then again maybe that is the reason for your blog.

Peter Hoare
2 comments
5 August 2008
8:27am

Comment Permalink

Succinctly put Rod, keep up the good work.

Mark Unwin
1 comment
5 August 2008
9:47am

Comment Permalink

Although we are beleagured by the appointment by Optus of Mr Egan to this role, the selection could not be more ironic. EGAN, according to Acronym.com is described as the "ETSI Guide Access Network" whilst the ETSI component leads us to the "European Telecommunications Standards Institute". Perhaps, Mr Egan could live up to his namesake organsation and provide the level of broadband access that Australia deserves rather than potential destructive behaviour that all Australians do not believe in. That's right, have a a fair go. Put your cards on the table Mr Optus (EGAN) and provide the world's best NBN for all Australians. Once you have demonstrated you cannot do this then move aside and let those who can make it happen. Don't be a roadblock to other people's success. Sure ETSI's role is to produce standards and they back there claims by a siple and stragiht forward message for those who may questions why standards need to exsit. "Products might not work as expected. They may be of inferior quality and incompatible with other equipment, in fact they may not even connect with them, and in extreme cases; non-standardized products may even be dangerous". So I ask Mr Optus (EGAN) where do you stand with a high quality, non-inferior product for all Australians.

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