On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:18:41 +1000, GB wrote:

> Horry <horacewachope@gmail.com> wrote in
> news:fu7k20$4m6$1@news.datemas.de:
>> They shouldn't, but that's not my point. My point is that that private
>> companies shouldn't be forced to provide unprofitable services.
>
> Consequences of receiving a country-wide telephone network for
> free do not include the right to cherry-pick which bits of that
> telephone network you want to operate and which bits you don't.

No-one received a telephone network for free. The Government originally owned
the network through PMG/Telecom/Telstra. The Government then sold Telstra
(for tens upon tens of billions of dollars) through a series of public
share offers. That offer included the PSTN. Read the prospectuses
for the share offers.