The cost of access to the Internet is likely to fall considerably over the next four years following a decision by the recent meeting in Montreal of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA).
The WTSA is the peak meeting of the International Telecommunication Union's Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and focuses on global standardisation in telecommunications.
Dr Bob Horton, Deputy Chairman of the Australian Communications Authority (ACA), who led the Australian delegation to the Assembly as part of a regional group under the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), said today that Telstra had estimated that global subsidy paid by Asian Internet service providers (ISPs), including Australia, to North American ISPs to be US$5 billion a year.
"The Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, had been effectively cross subsidising US Internet users," Dr Horton.
"This has been holding back the growth, reach and affordability of the Internet within the region. But that is about to change as a direct result of this decision which could effectively halve the cost of providing access to the Internet."
Dr Horton said another key outcome of the Assembly was the formation of a new Management Board to oversight the implementation of third generation (3G) mobile services throughout the world, and ensuring compatibility between various technical solutions which have been proposed by regional bodies.
"As a result of this decision we will see harmonisation of the development of 3G in the region and the integrated delivery of the benefits which future generation mobile services have promised," he said.
The ACA, in conjunction with the Australian Communications Industry Forum, will hold a debriefing session covering highlights of the WTSA at Park Royal Darling Harbour, 150 Day St, Darling Harbour, Sydney on Tuesday 14 November commencing at 2.00pm.
If you would like to attend, please register your interest by contacting Ms Sandra Campbell at the ACA on (03) 9963 6951.
