New England Online > Government & Politics > Executive > Crown Statutory Agencies > Providers > Telecommunications Infrastructure Authority
Telecommunications Infrastructure Authority
| Telecommunications Infrastructure Authority |
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| Overview | |
| Formed: | 1 March 2013 |
| Headquarters: | 94 Faulkner St Armidale GARM |
| Employees: | 3,400 |
| Annual Budget: | C300 million |
| Adminsitration | |
| Chairman: | Don Clancy |
| Director-General: | Angela Crossin |
The Telecommunications Infrastructure Authority or TIA is the crown statutory agency that owns all the telephone and data hardware in New England. All cabling, exchanges, public microwave links are owned by the authority. Connexions to overseas cables and satellites are also maintained or leased by the authority. TIA was established by the Braddock government in March 2013 when it nationalised the New England assets of the Telstra Corporation.
The authority does not provide retail services, and acts as the wholesaler of telephony and data services to the various retail companies operating in New England. Charges for access to TIA's network are covered in part by licence fees charged to retailers for access to the network, with the remaining income provided by the government from general taxation.
Responsibilities
The principal function of TIA is build, maintain and provide access to a world class telcommunications network. The authority is regularly tasked with keeping the national telcoms network online, and conducts over 2,000 repairs to the network every month. The authority employs over 1,000 technicians to keep the network up and running, and maintains a number of field offices and depots across the country.
The authority provides no services to general public, and most people never have to deal with TIA at any time in their lives. The primary relationship the authority is concerned with lies with those companies that provide telecommunication retail services to the nation. TIA is bound by it's charter to provide access within 24 hours of being notified that a new connexion is required. The prices it charges for it's services are regulated by the , and generally only rise in line with the consumer price index.
Assets
The authority is required to list it's assets in the annual report it tables before Parliament every year. The 2051 report contained the following list of assets owned by TIA:
- xxx,xxx kilometres of cabling
- xxx telephone exchanges
- 3 microwave links to satellites
- xxx mobile phone base stations
- 2 undersea cable links (to New Caledonia and New Zealand)
