[plug] Bloody Telstra

[Leon Brooks]

On Wednesday 16 November 2005 11:46, Kai Jones wrote:
> surely we have enough expertise on this list and
> other Australian Telco/ISP lists that if the community really wanted
> to do something about Telstra's dominance, we could....it'd be a
> matter of organising it and then making the bloody thing happen
> rather than just talking and whinging about it.

For 90% of the population you're covering, there are no real technical 
issues. What you face is effectively insuperable political and 
financial issues.

First you whomp up the million or so dollars needed to start getting 
registered as a real telco. This is practically all for red tape, mind 
you. Nothing about equipment or even offices, yet.

Then you either whomp up millions more to do your lobbying with, or 
personally visit hundreds of important people with a baseball bat and a 
short explanation about how much amiss you'd take it if they happened 
to do anything untoward about interfering with your application. Then 
you whomp up millions more and be prepared to start battling with 
everyone from irate residents through obstinate local councils to 
beauracracy-encumbered state departments for the right to dig up 
pavements and start laying optical backbone under them. Then you whomp 
up millions more to fight for whatever licence(s) you need to deliver 
over "the last mile".

If you get this far -- several years, much lost hair and many, many 
millions of dollars later -- you can start thinking about actually 
finding equipment and such for that magic moment when you actually lift 
your first paving slab or tilt up your first antenna tower.

Then some silly bugger will change a key law despite the pithy 
explanation and brandished sporting goods, and you'll more or less have 
to start all over again.

Cheers; Leon

-- 
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