 | Steve Ballmer
CEO Microsoft "A company like Telstra needs appropriate return on investment. It is a complex topic and it is probably appropriate there is a national discussion on the topic."
- Australian Financial Review, 26 May 2007 |
 | Glen Boreham
CEO IBM Australia and New Zealand "So we need to recognise that and really create a sense of urgency in this country … this is inhibiting the growth of our economy. It is inhibiting our prosperity and again we need action and we need it urgently."
- Lateline Business, 16 May 2007 |
 | Sir Rod Eddington
Chairman of Australia & New Zealand JPMorgan Chase Bank "Communications has absolutely revolutionised the way we live our lives and absolutely transformed productivity at the global as well as local level and fundamental to that is broadband. And we in Australia cannot find our position in the medium term where we don’t have the broadband network we need to communicate in that way. It’s like not having a proper road network, or not having a proper railway network or airport network."
- Melbourne Press Club, 16 May 2007 |
 | John Chambers
Chairman & CEO of Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in Internet Protocol (IP) based network solutions "Australia has to improve its broadband infrastructure or this country will be left behind."
- The Australian Financial Review, 27 April 2007 |
 | Harold Mitchell
Chairman Mitchell & Partners "Our children’s future and indeed our nation’s future is at stake. If we want to be competitive and accessible in the world of trade, education and communications, we simply must catch up and it must become a national priority to do so." “Many of the world’s broadband leaders are in our part of the world. They are important trading partners. It is a matter of some urgency that we put in plans to catch up."
- BRW Digital Media Leaders Forum, Sydney, 23 March 2007 |
 | Jack Matthews
CEO Fairfax Digital "A significant impediment to the development of the industry is the undeniably inferior state of broadband in Australia."
- BRW Digital Media Leaders Forum, Sydney, 23 March 2007 |
 | John Hartigan
CEO & Chairman News Limited "There is no doubt Australia has fallen behind and is at real risk of becoming a backwater. We need leadership, regulatory reform and investment and on all these fronts [yesterday's] announcement is very encouraging."
- Daily Telegraph, 22 March 2007 |
 | Professor Reg Coutts
Director of the Australian Computer Society Communications Technologies Board "High speed, reliable broadband services will help address the constraints imposed by distance, provide access to e-health, e-government and education services, employment and quality of life options for rural communities. These are options that city dwellers take for granted and should be readily available to regional people."
- Wireless World convention, 20 March 2007 |
 | James Packer "Australia needs an ubiquitous, high-speed broadband infrastructure to be internationally competitive. This is a top-order priority for the nation." "Telstra is best placed to deliver it. The Government needs to encourage Telstra through regulation that enables it to invest and receive a commercial return."
- Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association annual conference, Sydney, 15 March 2007 |
 | David Kirk
Fairfax Media Chief Executive "Fraudband - that's the best way to describe it." "We've reached a situation where very few people can have access to any sort of broadband that will allow them to download a movie in less than 12 hours, so it's just not enough."
- Queensland University of Technology Business Leaders' Forum, 7 March 2007 |
 | Mark Christensen
Economic Adviser and Academic "The regulator cannot distinguish between discretion required to be efficient and that used by a self-serving monopoly. The ACCC takes refuge in the latter, then blames Telstra for stalling, even though Telstra cannot win, nor is it responsible for the circumstances. The Telstra ruckus is about a blind belief that competition automatically delivers what the nation really needs. Until this fiction is acknowledged, we risk continuing to go round in circles and missing the boat on needed broadband investment."
- Courier Mail, 21 December 2006 |
 | Rupert Murdoch "In Australia we only have a couple of million (people on broadband) and they don't even get 1MB. I think it's a disgrace... the Government - with Telstra - should be spending $10 billion or $12 billion on it (so it gets to) every town in Australia." "They do it in Japan, they do it in South Korea. We should be able to do it here."
- News Corporation shareholders' meeting, Adelaide, 15 November 2006 |