IF NOT FOR JOHN HOWARD, TELSTRA WOULD BE RUNNING THE NBN

摘要

And there ended Australia's dreams of having a decent broadband network. You see, after Telstra was privatised, no government could tell its bosses what to do. They were free to follow that old mantra of corporations - "we have to look after our shareholders' interests". When Howard looked to Telstra for a broadband plan, the head honchos there drafted one that could bring in the most money. They did not bother about catering to all and sundry. The one period when Australia had plenty of cash to build a fibre network across the vast dry plains was during Howard's 11 years in power. Yet, instead of splitting Telstra into wholesale and retail arms — as a number of countries, like New Zealand, have done with incumbent telcos — Howard was focused only on winning elections.