Horry <horacewachope@gmail.com> wrote
> Rod Speed wrote
>> Phred <ppnerkDELETETHIS@yahoo.com> wrote
>>> GB <gb0807@kickindanuts.threefiddy.com> wrote
>>>> Horry <horacewachope@gmail.com> wrote

>>>>> 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.

>>> 1. Who got "a country-wide telephone network for free"?

>> Telstra, it was owned by the govt.

> And the Government owned Telstra.

> The Government then sold Telstra (including its assets and liabilities, etc.) to the public.

Irrelevant to whether telstra paid a cent to the govt for the landline network
and so gets to wear the USO when the govt includes that condition on telstra.

>>> 2. I don't think the present argument is over bits of the
>>> network, it's rather over bits that *aren't* on the network.

>> Nope, its whether telstra gets to wear the legal USO obligation as a consequence
>> of not having to pay the govt for that country wide phone network.

> The Government OWNED Telstra.

Irrelevant to whether telstra paid a cent to the govt for the landline network
and so gets to wear the USO when the govt includes that condition on telstra.

> The people who bought shares in T1, T2, and T3 paid the
> Commonwealth money in exchange for a company which had
> certain assets, including "that country wide phone network".

Irrelevant to whether telstra paid a cent to the govt for the landline network
and so gets to wear the USO when the govt includes that condition on telstra.

> Are you suggesting that the Commonwealth
> received money for selling something it didn't own

Nope, that telstra is a lot more than JUST the landline infrastructure.

> (because it had previously given it away for free to Telstra)?

JUST that telstra didnt pay the govt a cent for the landline infrastructure.

> Did the Commonwealth rip the public off, or were the prospectuses wrong?

Neither. Telstra gets to wear the USO that the govt chose to apply to all telcos.

Telstra gets to like that or lump it.