Telstra’s Vicki Brady wants Big Tech regulation equality
Big Tech firms should face the same crushing regulatory burden as Australian telcos, says Telstra boss who reveals it takes 6000 approvals to lay just 1000km of cable.
Big US and Chinese tech firms should be hit with hundreds of regulations to even up the playing field with Telstra and other digital businesses, the company’s chief executive, Vicki Brady, has asserted, while also urging the Albanese government to reconsider laws that stymie crucial tech developments.
Ms Brady’s call follows the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s five-year Digital Platforms Services Inquiry, which in June recommended that “timely” new legislation be introduced to increase competition.
“If any provider is providing services that are like what we provide in the telco sector, whether it’s a messaging service, a voice service, then I think it’s reasonable that they should be regulated and have the same obligations,” Ms Brady told The National Press Club on Wednesday.
“As a telco sector, we have 500 pieces of legislation and regulation to navigate. If you’re competing against a player that doesn’t have those same obligations and they’re delivering the same kind of services, we think that’s not the right way.”
The ACCC inquiry identified persistent harms such as self-preferencing, data hoarding, bundling and other barriers to entry that stifle Australian businesses such as Telstra. “Current laws are insufficient and regulatory reform is urgently needed,” its report said. “The ACCC therefore considers that there is a need for new upfront (ex ante) measures for digital platforms.”
The ACCC identified about 260 competition cases and investigations since 2010 against digital platforms including Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Alibaba, Baidu, Yandex, Naver and Booking.com for alleged anti-competitive conduct.
While Ms Brady said regulations needed to be applied more tightly to Big Tech firms, she also said there needed to be “better” regulation on the development and rollout of digital infrastructure. “Telstra is building our new intercity fibre network – an almost 14,000km superhighway for Australian industries that rely on high-capacity, low latency connectivity,” she said. “But if I look at just our Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne coastal route, we have issued 3000 land access activity notices, completed 1723 land access surveys, issued 1128 construction certificates and notices, and completed 171 cultural heritage and environmental surveys.
“That’s more than 6000 different actions taken to roll out just over 1000km of fibre. That’s around six per kilometre.
“What we’re trying to achieve, particularly when we’re rolling out infrastructure of such national significance, is can come up with a better way.”
“Regulation plays an important role, but I think we need to do that deeper dive into the sector, to look at better regulation. How do we make it more efficient, more cost effective?”
Ms Brady also rejected the idea of a cashflow tax, as proposed by the Productivity Commission at Jim Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable last month.
“We have to encourage business to invest, but I don’t think a cashflow tax would do that,” Ms Brady told The Australian.
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