Instead of trying to come up with the "right" industry structure for telecommunications, regulators should step back and allow competition to drive investment. This was one of the key messages from visiting regulatory expert, Professor Martin Cave, while in Australia this week.

Professor Cave is the Director of the Centre for Management Under Regulation at the Warwick School of Business in the UK. In addition to his academic work, he has advised regulators throughout Europe and the UK on policies for the engery, postal and telecommunications industries.

He said that the Optus cable network could provide a springboard to future competitive network investment, if regulation didn't encourage Optus to continue relying on Telstra's copper lines, even within its own cable footprint.

According to Professor Cave, the new national broadband network needn't be a "natural monopoly" as some have claimed, unless it was regulated as one.

Download the video:

• Interview with Professor Cave (WMV - 12.88MB)
  Professor Cave discusses trends in next generation broadband growth around the world, and how competition and market forces are better at encouraging investment than planned market structures.