Transcript
The Howard Government has once again put ideology ahead of affordable broadband by announcing the Telstra fire sale.
This sale, with half the shares kept in the so-called future fund, means the Howard Government will continue to protect Telstra’s monopoly, leaving consumers frustrated with the lack of affordable broadband in many areas.
Residents in Canberra suburbs like Gungahlin and Dunlop and outlying areas in our region like Wamboin and Bungendore have all had it with the disgraceful arrogance of Telstra as they offer lip service to customer complaints and do nothing to improve service.
To rub salt in the wound Telstra make it hard for other competitors to provide a better service because of the poor quality network infrastructure that they have deployed in recent times.
After 10 long years the Howard Government still doesn’t care that everyone loses under its strategy of privatisation of Telstra.
This includes all Australian citizens suffering from sub-standard communications and even the shareholders of Telstra who have watched the company’s value sink.
A privatisation policy has never been and never will be a substitute for a telecommunications policy.
