Telecommunications in Australia refers to communication in Australia through electronic means, using devices such as telephone, television, radio or computer, and services such as the telephony and broadband networks. Telecommunications have always been important in Australia given the "tyranny of distance" with a dispersed population. Governments have driven telecommunication development and have a key role in its regulation.
History
Colonial period
Prior to Federation of Australia in 1901, each of the six Australian colonies had its own telephony communications network. The Australian networks were government assets operating under colonial legislation modelled on that of Britain. The UK Telegraph Act 1868 for example empowered the Postmaster-General to "acquire, maintain and work electric telegraphs" and foreshadowed the 1870 nationalisation of competing British telegraph companies.
Australia's first telephone service, connecting the Melbourne and South Melbourne offices of Robison Brothers, a Melbourne engineering firm, was launched in 1879. The private Melbourne Telephone Exchange Company opened Australia's first telephone exchange in August 1880. Around 7,757 calls were handled in 1884.
The nature of the networks meant that regulation in Australia was undemanding: network personnel were government employees or agents, legislation was enhanced on an incremental basis and restrictions could be achieved through infrastructure. All the colonies ran their telegraph networks at a deficit through investment in infrastructure and subsidisation of regional access, generally with bipartisan support.
Government-operated post office and telegraph networks – the largest parts of the bureaucracy – were combined into a single department in each colony on the model of the UK Post Office: South Australia in 1869, Victoria in 1870, Queensland in 1880 and New South Wales in 1893.
At Federation (1901) At Federation, the colonial networks (staff, switches, wires, handsets, buildings etc.) were transferred to the Commonwealth Postmaster-General's Department responsible for domestic postal, telephone and, telegraph services becoming the responsibility of the first Postmaster-General (PMG), a federal. With 16,000 staff (and assets of over £6 million) the PMG accounted for 80% of the new federal bureaucracy.
Public phones were available in a handful of post offices. Subscriber telephones were initially restricted to major businesses, government agencies, institutions and wealthier residences. Eight million telegrams were sent that year over 43,000 miles of line.
There were around 33,000 phones across Australia, with 7,502 telephone subscribers in inner Sydney and 4,800 in the Melbourne central business district.
Overseas cable links to Australia remained in private hands, reflecting the realities of imperial politics, demands on the new government's resources, and perceptions of its responsibilities.
After Federation A trunk line between Melbourne (headquarters of the PMG Department) and Sydney was established in 1907, with extension to Adelaide in 1914, Brisbane in 1923, Perth in 1930 and Hobart in 1935.
On 12 July 1906 the first Australian wireless overseas messages were sent between Point Lonsdale, Victoria and Devonport, Tasmania.http://tja.org.au/index.php/tja/article/view/9/30 Given, Jock. 2010. 'Wireless politics: Marconi and the Parliament at Point Lonsdale, 12 July 1906'. Telecommunications Journal of Australia. 60 (4): pp. 60.1 to 60.7. Monash University ePress. Australia and New Zealand ratified the 1906 Berlin Radio-telegraph Convention in 1907. The PMG department became responsible for some international shortwave services, particularly from the 1920s and for a new Coastal Radio Service in 1911, with the first of a network of stations operational in February 1912.
The Sydney–Melbourne co-axial cable was officially opened on 9 April 1962. The coaxial cable infrastructure supported the introduction of subscriber trunk dialling between the cities and live television link-ups. After its commissioning in April 1962 the cable carried telegraph and telephone traffic. It also provided the first inter-city television transmission in Australia, allowing simultaneous television broadcasting in Melbourne and Sydney for the first time.
Optus was formed as AUSSAT, a government owned corporation, in 1981. It was privatized later in the 1980s under the Hawke Labor government. Telstra (previously known as Telecom), another government owned asset, was also privatised in 1997 under the Howard Liberal government.
Broadcasting in Australia
Australia developed its own radio broadcasting system, through its own engineers, manufacturers, retailers, newspapers, entertainment services, and news agencies. Initially hobbyists and amateurs were dominant, however with the Commonwealth Government setting up the first radio system, and business interests becoming increasingly involved, hobbyists and amateurs were marginalised. The Australian Labor Party was especially interested in radio because it allowed them to bypass the newspapers, which were mostly controlled by their opposition. Both parties agreed on the need for a national system, and in 1932 set up the Australian Broadcasting Commission was set up as a government agency largely separate from political interference.
The first commercial broadcasters, originally known as "B" class stations were on the air as early as 1925. Many were sponsored by newspapers in Australia,Denis Cryle, 'The press and public service broadcasting: Neville Petersen's news not views and the case for Australian exceptionalism.' (2014) Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy Issue 151 (May 2014): 56+. by theatrical interests, by amateur radio enthusiasts and radio retailers, and by retailers generally.R.R. Walker, The Magic Spark – 50 Years of Radio in Australia (1973). Almost all Australians were within reach of a station by the 1930s, and the number of stations remained relatively stable through the post-war era. However, in the 1970s, the Labor government under Prime Minister Gough Whitlam commenced a broadcasting renaissance so that by the 1990s there were 50 different radio services available for groups based on tastes, languages, religion, or geography.John Potts, Radio in Australia (1986) The broadcasting system was largely deregulated in 1992, except that there were limits on foreign ownership and on monopolistic control. By 2000, 99 percent of Australians owned at least one television set, and averaged 20 hours a week watching it.Graeme Davison et al., eds., The Oxford Companion to Australian History (2001), pp 546–47, 637–38
Television
As early as 1929, two Melbourne commercial radio stations, 3UZ and 3DB were conducting experimental mechanical television broadcasts – these were conducted in the early hours of the morning, after the radio stations had officially closed down. In 1934 Dr Val McDowallCollege Roll: McDowall, Valentine, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians at amateur station 4CM BrisbaneCharles Porter, (1962), Broadcasting in Queensland. Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 6 4, pp. 750-761. conducted experiments in electronic television.
Television broadcasting officially began in Sydney and Melbourne just prior to the Melbourne Olympic Games in November/December 1956 and then phased in at other capital cities, and then into rural markets. Many forms of entertainment, particularly drama and variety, proved more suited to television than radio, so the actors and producers migrated there.
It now includes a broad range of public, commercial, community, subscription, narrowcast, and amateur stations across the country. Colour television in the PAL 625-line format went to a full-time basis in 1975. Subscription television, on the Galaxy platform, began in 1995. Digital terrestrial television was introduced in 2001.Albert Moran and Chris Keating. The A to Z of Australian Radio and Television (Scarecrow Press, 2009)
Australia moved from PAL 625 to DVB-T on 10 December 2013.
Subscription television, like streaming services, has become more important and is one factor driving demand for the National Broadband Network.
Core technologies, the network, backhaul and the local loop Copper cable and optical fibre networks
Prior to the government opening telecommunications to multi player competition the PMG (and later Telecom Australia) operated a vertically integrated system, providing the Core network, backhaul, ancillary networks and a range of services to end users.
With opening telecommunications to multi provider competition the government required Telstra to sell wholesale access to its core facilities and networks.
In the 2000s, larger Internet service providers (ISPs) began taking over more of the delivery infrastructure themselves by taking advantage of regulated access to the unconditioned local loop. As well as significantly reducing costs, it gave the service providers complete control of their own service networks, other than the copper pair (phone line from the exchange to the customer).'iinet archives' Retrieved on 25 September 2008.
Telstra in 2006 proposed replacing its copper network with an optical fibre node network with the drop connection into end user premises being the existing copper cable. They abandoned this as under competition policy they would be required to open their network to competing carriers on a wholesale basis.
Further options were explored with the first Rudd government deciding to set up a National Broadband Network using Fibre to the Premises as the main carrier network, supported by satellite and wireless to remote areas.
After the election of the Abbott government in 2013 a Multi Technological Mix was implemented, replacing FTTP where development was yet to start with Fibre to the Node and also repurposing the Telstra and Optus hybrid fibre-coaxial networks.
Cable
In the late 1990s, Telstra and Optus rolled-out separate cable Internet services, focusing on the east coast.
Satellite The Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) was established by Australia in August 1946 with responsibility for all international telecommunications services into, through and out of Australia.
In 1981 Aussat Pty Ltd was established as a GBE to operate domestic satellite telecommunication and broadcasting services. Aussat's charter restricted it from acting as a competitor to Telecom, including a prohibition on interconnecting public switched traffic with Telecom's network.
Proposals for a merger of Aussat and OTC (thereby permitting national delivery of telecommunication services in competition with Telecom) were rejected in favor of disposal of the satellite operator to a non-government entity that would be allowed to compete with Telecom
Satellites are used to provide telecommunications services in very remote areas. These are primarily the Optus satellites C1 D1 and D2.
There are also a number of satellite earth stations, which provide access points into the Australian networks: Intelsat has 10 earth stations, 4 for the Indian Ocean and 6 for the Pacific Ocean. Inmarsat has 2 earth stations, which serve the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. SingTel Optus Earth Stations has several earth stations located in the major cities. Sky Muster satellites operated as part of the National Broadband Network. Telstra has a totals of 48 earth stations, Located between sites in Sydney, Perth and Bendigo serving both the Australian Continent, Asia-Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean regions.
Submarine cables Due to Australia's large size, sparse population, and relative remoteness to other countries, a significant amount of infrastructure is required for Internet communications. The vast majority of Australia's international telecommunications transit capacity is sourced from undersea several fibre-optic cables to Asia and the US: