Slashdot Mirror
Telco CEO Asks For "Baby Bell Solution" For Australia
natecochrane writes "The CEO of Australia's No.2 telco, Optus, has called for a "Baby Bell" solution to handle what he says is a growing threat to competition in the emerging $43 billion Australian national fibre-broadband network. Paul O'Sullivan says that only by breaking up the network architect NBN Co and tendering out its services, overseen by an independent board (much like Australia's Reserve Bank the Fed), can competition be preserved. And he had a few choice words to say about Australia's 'No.2' ISP, iiNet: 'If you take into account we operate a cable network and not ADSL [primarily] we're still significantly larger than iiNet.'"
You can call me a yank all you want, but fibre just looks weird.
is subject to some CEOs fauxking allegiance? it's time to take the profit out of open/honest communications as well, as the media/comms cos. are just as attached as a life threatening malignancy. too big to jail?
so, as soon as there's more evidence of all of those little ones being escaped from harm etc..., even more good stuff can happen. on an even brighter note; it seems that none of us is going to hell as previously threatened. it could get rather uncomfortable here though, if we fail to pay attention/serve each other. the alternatives are shaky, literally. see you there?
The problem Optus has here is that it loses a valuable position as part of a copper monopoly. Optus and Telstra own pretty much all the copper in Oz (telephone and cable) and charge other ISP's, such as iinet a fortune to use it. Not to mention the DSLAM's they rent out to other ISP's. Once the NBN is completed Optus and Telstra have to compete on equal terms with competitive ISP's like iinet and Internode. NBNco leases the NBN fibre to any company that will pay the fee to lease the line, this includes Optus.
That can reach about 5% of Aussie homes, let me know when you were planning to cable up Vic Park, I'll be getting NBN by the end of the year. Given the reach of Optus's cable network, iinet is still number 2.
Bunch of self serving, conniving wankers. You've let the broadband situation get this bad in the first place, 15 years of doing next to nothing, you wouldn't even roll out ADSL2 until iinet gave you a swift kick in the arse. Well we're all sick of it and now the Government is doing what you refused to and you're having a big bloody cry over it.
Harden the fuck up Paul O'Sullivan.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Just so everyone knows what the AC is saying, it's rhyming slang that is commonly used in Australia and England.
Yank -> Tank -> Septic Tank -> Septic -> Seppo (chopping off the back half of the word and adding an "o" makes it an Australian-ism).
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Yes, and we all know how well Federal Reserve banks manage things.
The magical number is: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
'If you take into account we operate a failing, business grade, cable network and not functioning, consumer grade, ADSL [primarily] we're still significantly aiming at a different audience than iiNet.'
Well, it is kinda odd. Politicians want companies to compete to win, but they do not want any company to win.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
All of Ma Bell's offspring collude to bring us the same shitty network at ever rising prices
'If you take into account we operate a cable network and not ADSL [primarily] we're still significantly larger than iiNet.'
You're also significantly sh!ter than iiNet.
Also, the break up did what was intended, stopped it from monopolizing the computer industry (it tried) and other emerging techs. You could argue without the break-up Sprint could have never got into the long distance service, and Verizon started in 1983 as Bell Atlantic. It is possible, if left to stand, Ma Bell would have wrapped up most of the cell phone market before said competitors giving at least some market competition today. Just a thought. And it would seen completely natural to us today, as they own the phone lies, so why shouldn't they own the cell phones that connect to them?
a baby bell is a small round cheddar in red wax coating... hilarity ensues.
As a Canadian, I want to personally thank Australia for your inspiration. We could never do what we're about to do without your example.
http://tinyurl.com/canadianbroadband
This had nothing to do with the Australian Reserve Bank, it had to do with the fact that all the Western countries tookout massive federal debt to try to keep things afloat, which kept China growing, which kept them buying commodities, which kept the Australian economy strong. This kept aussie lenders from getting in trouble (and in fact, the ARB wants aussie banks to lend more than they already are doing).
Surely our banking regulations (OH NOOOES BIG GOVERNMENT etc...) had a part to play in it. You know, lending money you actually *have* rather than lending money you don't have then selling that risk off to third parties to then repackage and sell to other banks as guaranteed income, to back additional lending to other parties.