[LINK] potential Telstra breakup

[David Lochrin]

On Wednesday 03 October 2007 10:45, Roger Clarke wrote:
> Having ceded ownership, on what basis can the government force a break-up?

   Good point - perhaps only by defining "infrastructure" and "added-value" activities and legislating equal infrastructure (wholesale) pricing to all added-value (retail) companies?  The concept could be justified fairly easily in the national interest, but the legal foundation could be very tricky, not to mention workable enforcement.

   For example, how could Telstra (infrastructure) be required to avoid biasing its investment decisions to favour Telstra (added-value) which would be easily the largest player?

   And the principle could be extended to cover water and other matters.

   Such fine detail could safely be left until after the election (:-).

David