Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 24—Communications and information technology 831
would remain responsible for Australia’s
international telecommunications; the PMG
would handle all postal and delivery services; and
a newly established authority, the Australian
Telecommunication Commission, would take
control of all public telecommunication services.
Telecom, Australia’s own telecommunications
giant, was born.
The 1980s—communications
access for all Australians
Australia now had a fully-fledged
communications industry, well up to world
standards in the areas of international satellite
and telephone technology. However, domestic
communication services remained erratic. While
the capital cities had television, radio and high
quality telephone services, many rural
communities struggled on without an adequate
phoneline. Ironically, it was often easier for a
Sydney caller to reach London than outback
New South Wales. So in 1960 the PMG made a
firm policy commitment—while Australia’s
international telecommunications industry
would continue to be developed, the main
focus, for as long as was necessary, would be
upon providing modern communication
services to all Australians. The policy went into
effect and huge development projects were
implemented. The crucial step came in 1985,
with the launching of Australia’s first
geostationary communications satellite by
AUSSAT, the organisation established in 1981 to
oversee Australia’s satellite system. By 1987 all
areas in Australia had basic telephone services,
no matter how remote. Australia had achieved
telecommunications maturity, with all
Australians linked by a single infrastructure.
And not a moment too soon. Over the next
decade information and telecommunications
industries worldwide would change rapidly, and
the quality of Australia’s domestic
telecommunication services was to be crucial in
the nation’s participation in this new economy.
This change would be brought about by the
proliferation of new technology that made the
instantaneous exchange of information as easy
as pushing a button. This was, of course, the
birth of the Internet.
Advent of the Internet
In theory, an early form of the Internet has been
in existence since the early seventies, when the
Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network (DARPAnet), was set up as an
experiment by the United States military.
Indeed, Australia has had its own computer
information network running between selected
Australian universities and research institutions
since the late seventies, and the Australian top
level domain, .au, has existed since 1984.
However, it was not until 1990 that the
international computer network began to attract
popular attention, with the establishment of the
World Wide Web by a server just outside
Geneva. This new information forum was
instantly linked via satellite to Australia’s own
fledgling Internet system, Australian Academic
and Research Network (AARNet). Australia’s first
commercial Internet provider, connect.com.au,
opened for business in 1992, and Internet
addresses became widely available to the
Australian public in 1993. Finally, in 1995 control
over all interstate and international web links
was handed over to the Government by the
Australian Vice-Chancellor’s Committee, in
acknowledgment that the Internet had become
an important part of the public Australian
communications industry.
The 1990s—opening up the
communications market
As Australia entered the final decade of the
century, having achieved basic access for all
Australians and in view of the growing importance
of telecommunications in the international
marketplace, the Government changed the focus
of its communications policy. The emphasis would
now be upon developing Australia’s
telecommunications system for the future, making
it a world leader, not just world class, in industry as
well as deliverance. Australia was in an ideal
position to embrace and take advantage of the
developments taking place internationally with the
rise of the Internet—its infrastructure was new,
complete and of world standard.
As telecommunications developed into an
increasingly lucrative commodity, a growing
international trend had emerged towards
industry competition and, as part of this
competition, towards privatisation.
Traditionally, the telecommunications providers
of all the major developed nations had been
highly regulated government-owned
monopolies. Since the early seventies this
regulation had been gradually reduced in many
nations to encourage marketplace
development. Many telecommunications
institutions had been fully or partially sold off by
their governments. Over this period the