2004 is proving an interesting year for telecommunications users. Technology, market demand for products and services, regulatory responses, investment strategies and business models are in flux - what are next-generation networks going to do? How do users balance speed and security? What needs regulating and when? How do we encourage investment in new platforms and difficult markets? What does consolidation mean for competition? How do we deal with regional Australia and its need for up-to-date communications?
These key issues for 2004 and beyond will be discussed at ATUG 2004, ATUG's 20th Annual Conference - a very different event from ATUG's first half-day conference in 1984.
The industry is also very different. ATUG was formed in 1981 and by 1984 was starting to get traction for the very novel idea that competition in telecommunications was the best way of securing choice, which would bring price and service benefits for end users.
In 1984, telex was running hot as the forerunner to international data services - and the mobiles industry was a list of people who had wandered into the GPO saying "when you get those Dick Tracy watches - I want one!" The Internet was under lock and key in the US Defense Department and didn't get onto the mainstream business radar screen much before 1993 when strategists started picking up CDs and saying to themselves "MULTI MEDIA, MULTI MEDIA" - hoping that the concept would become clear by osmosis!
In a regulatory sense, we have come along way since then - from Monopoly through Duopoly to an Open Market with a very light touch approach to regulation and a real commitment to self-regulation through groups such as the Australian Communications Industry Forum.
And now, of course, there's a raft of new players, platforms and products - broadband, 3G, voice over IP, wireless: fixed and mobile access, information services.
For ATUG members, although the technology, market and regulatory arrangements change, the core issues of concern remain the same - access to world class, reliable telecommunications services, at competitive prices.
ATUG's own research into telecommunications users' needs shows clear evidence of increasing dependence on communications - the plain, old telephone and fax are still important but the mobile phone and Internet connected computer are right up there. 2004 will be interesting as the year when mobile and IP networks come to be seen by users as competitive communications platforms in their own right - provided the price and performance packages meet the market.
The 'next-generation' networks needed to support business and government service delivery in the future will be an important focus at ATUG 2004. In particular, we will be looking at international experience to see where Australia stands in terms of innovation, prices and performance.
Next-generation networks will blur the boundaries between communications, information, entertainment, and commerce.
The underlying convergence of communications, computing and content will drive significant change in the nature of the communications industry. As a result, existing regulatory distinctions between access networks, including fixed and mobile, may well become irrelevant. In a converged regulatory world, perhaps a single regulatory regime could cover information and communications services - infrastructure, network services, content and applications and end-services. The UK's OFCOM is an interesting model.
ATUG's 2004 policy agenda and conference reflect many of these issues - competition, access, broadband connectivity, mobiles, informed choice, regional communications and international developments.
A competitive market for connectivity is even more critical now because of increasing economic and social reliance by users on information, communications and Internet-based services. The balance between infrastructure, wholesale and retail competition is being redrawn given the investment required for future services.
Broadband is in its infancy - users will adopt it, adapt it and then fully absorb the capability as they change the way they conduct business, access government services and use information and entertainment services.
Mobile capability is now a feature of everyone's business and social life. Pricing issues such as fixed to mobile, mobile data and international roaming, and coverage issues such as domestic roaming are still high on ATUG's mobile policy agenda.
Informed users are critical to the effective operation of a competitive market. ATUG 2004 is all about information for the buyers, suppliers, advisers, policy makers and regulators of the telecommunications industry. The Minister and Shadow Minister, the Chairman of the ACCC, the ACA and the ABA, senior executives from telecommunications companies, industry commentators, local and international speakers will all contribute to a lively debate about the issues and prospects for 2004.
