Competition & Privatisation Kills Fibre Internet in Australia - in The 1990's

Diji1 on 13/01/2016 - 10:19

Just read this fascinating article … back when a gummint Telstra offered services that worked for a reasonable price - just like the free market idealogues claimed is impossible with no competition - in the late 80's it turns out that Prime Minister Hawke had an enquiry and the enquiry came to the conclusion that fibre to the premises was the way of the future and that Telstra, as a gummint owned entity, should build a FTTP network.

Let's briefly review events since then: Telstra is sold to private investors, the market is "deregulated" (terrible, nonsense word) and no one built a FTTP network.

So much for privatisation leading to a better deal for the Australian citizen. Hey Turnbull you ****hat: STILL waiting for that FTTP you cretin.

Sauce: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/12/telstra_had_fibre_co…

Internet

Comments

  • ProjectZero on 13/01/2016 - 10:38

    Interesting… we had two chances to get FTTP and the government blew it…

  • RockyRaccoon on 13/01/2016 - 11:21
    +1

    You have to be kidding.

    Such a simple statement that you use to justify your position

    Telstra offered services that worked for a reasonable price

    Before Telstra was privatised Bob Hawke and Paul Keating created Optus from Aussat, so they introduced competition which created more favourable pricing. It wasnt Telstra that did this.

    Prior to Optus, making a reasonable call overseas would have cost in the $$ per minute range not the cents we pay today. Probably this is before you ever made your first phone call :)

    No debate on FTTP being the way to go even years ago. Just like all things FTTP in it's infancy would have been far more expensive to introduce without technological advancements that are now possible.

    Plus changes to adsl technology over the same time frame meant this could be delayed (cost benefit) until the Fibre technology could be rolled out cheaper.

    Just like all technology - computers etc

    Identifying something and implementing it are two different things. Dick Tracy identified iWatches in the early 50's, it took 50 plus years to rollout

  • spackbace on 13/01/2016 - 11:31

    I remember back when my folks first got Foxtel cable, around 1996 or so if memory serves me. One of the features at the time was that sometime in the not-too-distant future, your home internet could run off that cable. Now obviously it wasn't part of the decision process for getting Foxtel, but it's just interesting that nothing eventuated from that. There they were, laying all this cable around suburbia, and not taking advantage of it

    • jnewau on 13/01/2016 - 11:50
      +2

      Nothing eventuated? You seem to be forgetting the whole Telstra Bigpond service which runs on that cable? Whirlpool was started in 1998 as a message board for Bigpond users so it was well and truly available by then.

      • spackbace on 13/01/2016 - 12:15

        Lol ah yeah, maybe it just wasn't feasible at the time (budget-wise). Moved out of there by '99

  • dogboy on 13/01/2016 - 13:33

    There are some good articles on Reddit and Whirlpool on why the Aussie internet is in such a mess. Spoiler - it is Telstra and the government's fault.

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