To shplorb

Yes, the telco regulatory enviroment is a dog's breakfast, But no, not all the blame can be sheeted to the Howard government as so many would like to do.

The reality is: does the private sector deal with the current state of affairs as they are; or does John Howard try to unscramble the eggs? Or is there a third way that will not involve raping the taxpayer's wallet?

Of course the ideal situation would have been at the very begining to break up Telsta into its different business lines on the one hand and divorce them from the natural monopoly activites on the other.

But while that would have raised compettion, the sale proceeds would have been a fraction of what has been realised to date. And isn't that some pollies' only concern?

The money that Rudd has promised is very little in the scheme of things. The Fed budget each year is over $200 Billion and the greater economy is over $1 trillion. If Howard can pull $10 Billion out of the hat without asking treasury, then a couple of Billion for broadband would be a snip.
The upstart of providing high speed internet to 98% of Australians is that it rapidly devalues Telstra's cable network as well as allowing people to bypass Foxtel / Austar's pay TV monopoly. The promised 12Mb/s speed is good enough for a couple of HD TV channels being streamed.
For a more in depth discussion of the issues surrounding wide scale deployment of broadband I would suggest people visit Whirlpool and the ALP broadband plan thread.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=706089&p=1

I get the distinct impression that Jonathan Ariel has never run a business.

Firstly a good internet is an investment which will create wealth, the future fund is a liability. It does not follow that one is at the expense of the other. That proposition is just a smokescreen to hide the failure of the Howard government to develop a business future for when the mining boom runs out of steam.

An internet at the maximum speed would give business an opportunity to overcome the tyranny of distance. You would think any competent government would not leave us with an inferior system, but that is what the coalition has allowed. A private system is fine but this is not happening and our business is suffering as a result, I know I run one.

Kevin Rudd has at least run a consulting business aiding exporters he has had some real world experience and would know more than the academic lawyers and professional politicians on the Governments side.

For a more in depth discussion of the issues surrounding wide scale deployment of broadband I would suggest people visit Whirlpool and the ALP broadband plan thread.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=706089&p=1

what a sick joke

WhirlPool is simply ONE of Howard's FireWalls, funded and set up by Howard to keep the mushrooms away from his nasty deeds

to see the truth about these deeds [deleted from Whirlpool of course] go to http://www.themediadoc.com > Combined Stuff > BigPond $100 million fraud

BUT that fraud ARRESTED by little old me