End of the Telstra monopoly in Oz?
December 17th, 2008 BeardyOk, this is a LONG one, but what is driving the manoeuvrings by the Oz federal government surrounding the NBN (National Broadband Network for those who have been living in a cave for the past few years)….?
Is it possible that The Greens comment may have hinted at a deeper issue than anyone intended? Nationalisation of what the government deems “critical infrastructure” is nothing new (look at link at end). It is common knowledge that the ALP was fiercely opposed to the full sale of Telstra. Telstra is receiving a hammering on its share price. Finally, the effective detente that exists between the federal government and Telstra does not bode well for any brinkmanship on the part of the telco’s executives.
Now consider that the federal government could quite conceivably build its own broadband network and lease bandwidth on it to the telcos. The only thing that would be required would be the experienced technicians and management to get it built and managed….. enter the government’s long-standing insistence that Telstra break up into divisions carving off the infrastructure division complete with its staff.
While it is a very long bow to draw a possible suggestion that the government would go so far as to nationalise Telstra to force that division, they may not have to if they owned the largest broadband network in the nation. Such a situation would seriously devalue Telstra even further making a buy-back an option rather than the more brutal nationalisation (which would likely be unpopular with the electorate).
It will be interesting times ahead if Telstra gets backed into a corner on the NBN rollout….. especially if their competition is the government.
“Govt could build NBN itself: Greens”
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Govt-could-build-NBN-itself-Greens/0,130061791,339293537,00.htm?feed=pt_telstra>
“Telstra NBN lawsuit “100%” likely”
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Telstra-NBN-lawsuit-100-likely/0,130061791,339293827,00.htm?omnRef=1337>
“Telstra quiet on NBN legal action”
<http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24801170-5013040,00.html>
“Shareholders wipe billions from Telstra”
<http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24809904-3122,00.html>
“Pressure on Telstra chiefs as shares dive”
<http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24812846-15306,00.html>
Hints of a possible future….
<http://www.alp.org.au/media/0108/msinfrpm210.php>
History
<http://atlantic-cable.com/CableCos/CandW/CW/index.htm>
