(The following news summary was posted by Madanmohan Rao, Communications Director, United Nations Inter Press Service Bureau, to the MecklerMedia Internet World site, which is on the Web at http://www.iworld.com/netday/NATW.html--Andy.) INTERNET PHONE, FAX MAY THREATEN AUSTRALIAN TELCOS Australian Internet users making long-distance phone calls via the Internet may undermine Telstra's and Optus's most profitable source of revenue. But regulator Austel's general manager of industry affairs, John Haydon, said neither carrier had yet raised the issue of potential revenue loss with Austel. In the United States, the America's Carriers Telecommunications Association has already petitioned the Federal Communications Commission - the U.S. equivalent of Austel - to stop companies selling Internet phone and fax products. ACTA described the bypassing of traditional carriers as "misuse of the Internet". Computer experts at the recent Com Tech Open Systems Forum in Australia agreed traditional telephony might be threatened by the Net. Telstra has to provide untimed local calls and offer service all over Australia, even where it is very expensive. To fund this, it cross-subsidises from its huge profits in the long- distance business. Telstra CEO Frank Blount hinted recently that untimed local calls will become untenable if they are used for protracted connections to the Net. The Australian annual international calls market is estimated at more than $2 billion. (Sydney Morning Herald; March 19, 1996) ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Andrew Oram - •••@••.••• - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ CyberJournal: (WWW or FTP) --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
