From
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/kenneth-davidson/2007/10/28/1193555530479...
When will the politicians admit reality? Telstra must build the high-speed
broadband network.
AUSTRALIA has a high-cost, second-rate telecommunications network. The
reason is that neither side of politics will admit that the network is a
monopoly which must be regulated in the public interest.
The rot set in when it was pointed out to the politicians that Australia's
two-part tariff (low-cost to connect and above-cost charges for phone calls)
provided a lucrative opening for arbitrage that could be sold to the
electorate as competition.
In 1990, plans were made to issue a second telecommunications licence. In
return for a subsidised entry price into the network, which had an upfront
value of about $2 billion, Optus paid $800 million for its licence.
The cost of telecommunications has fallen since the advent of competition,
but lower prices were driven, not by competition, but by technological
change, guaranteed by the price cap. Worse, prices have risen relative to
the rest of the Organisation for Economic
