Comment Erm.. (Score 5, Funny) 225
Im just glad she listened to the right people when it comes to fiber.
And private industry has historically been less effective in Australian telecommunications due to the dirty great monopoly of Telstra - which is just being replaced by the dirty great monopoly of the NBN.
Telstra was a monopoly in both the wholesale and retail sector. With this they could simply move the wholesale costs of services for competitors to just below that of their retail service offerings with their retail arm having to pay none of the wholesale costs, just overheads of a traditional retail business.
This is the current 'price squeeze' under investigation by the ACCC, again.
The NBN is a wholesale only network.. I fail to see how they could abuse a monopoly position in this manner... other than perhaps rising wholesale prices directly but lets be honest the government isn't as greedy as Telstra which, is saying something. Additionally every RSP that's using the network will make a fuss if the price rise was unjustified.
Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. -- Ambrose Bierce