[LINK] A national broadband network?

[Frank O'Connor]

On 23/11/2011, at 8:37 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:

> 
> Telstra is phasing out the copper network, so there is no need to "sell" 
> the NBN. New homes will not have copper cable installed, so householders 
> will have a choice between the NBN fiber or wireless. Similarly, after 
> the fiber is installed in older suburbs, the copper cable will be 
> decommissioned, so subscribers will be required to switch to fiber or 
> wireless. The switch to digital TV now taking place shows that while 
> this is a complex process, with some political sensitivities, it is 
> feasible.
> 
Right.

- And the likelihood of Telstra even proceeding to fibre to the home without the NBN was?
- And the likelihood of Telstra retiring/phasing out its much amortised and hyper-charged-for copper (with fixed line services you still pay about $30 per month rental on this puppy even to today) was?
- And the likelihood of any competition to Telstra (and its acknowledged monopoly and overcharging - compared to carriers overseas) without the NBN was?
- And the likelihood of 1 GBs to the home in the next 20 years without the NBN was?
- And the likelihood that Australians would have anything approaching the broadband capabilities of anything but a third world country by 2020 without the NBN was?

The bottom line is that Telstra was more than comfortable to keep supplying bandwidth on copper, and would have continued to do so until time immemorial in the absence of any real alternative from a competitor. Even with the NBN Telstra is getting a better deal than it deserves. It's proud boast in 1987 was that it had fibre 'within 700 feet of every Australian home' ... but it did nothing in the 25 years since then ... being hugely satisfied with the status quo and blowing the billions it made in profits every year on failed ventures overseas and dividends to shareholders. That was the beginning of Telstra's contempt for its customers, and that situation only got worse from 1987 onwards.

I love revisionism as much as the next guy ... but lets not get carried away here.