Could this happen in America?
April 1, 2009
I just finished reading a hullabaloo from down under–Australia, of course–and I have never been so upset and startled.
Thank God we live in America, home of the free and brave, where stuff like this just doesn’t happen.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken legal action against Telstra, the Australian equivalent of Ma Bell, a.ka. the ILEC. Allegedly, Telstra has not been playing well with others:
- Telstra has been accused of “misleading and deceptive conduct” by posting incorrect notices for competitors on their wholesale web pages. (Unheard of in America!)
- Competitors of Telstra claim that Telstra can’t be trusted to operate a national broadband network, and there is a need for structural separation to stop the “monopolistic” behavior. (OFCOM in the UK forced British Telecom into structural separation – don’t the Aussie and Brit accents sound remarkably close?)
- Telstra’s competitors have been complaining for years (yes, years) that Telstra has delayed roll outs of competitive networks by hindering access to telephone exchanges. Telstra claims they have no room for competitor’s equipment. (Imagine that … no room at the Inn … Telstra, take a play from America – it’s called “virtual collocation.” Sure it’s a rip-off for competitors, but our regulators bought it. Alternatively, as a bargaining chip, develop a process that takes 6 months for a competitor to gain wire center entry to collocate, and once they are in, make sure they must interconnect with Telstra directly for a “fee” before they can cross-connect with another carrier in the same location three feet away – built-in cash flow!!!)
- The ACCC has also accused Telstra of not providing access to copper wire for competitors in seven key exchanges. (Telstra – are you dumb or what? You have copper which is probably 100 years old, has been paid for five times over by rate payers, copper by physics is incapable (unreliable) of competing with fiber optics and 700 MHz WiMax and you are not leasing this stuff out? Think about it, your competition is funding you for inferior, unreliable access assets, whereby you can take the cash and invest it where the competitors don’t want to – last mile fiber optics. And think about this, every time there is a problem on that copper, your competitor gets the black eye from the customer, not you! Brilliant. Simply brilliant).
Boy, we should be grateful ever since the Communications Act of 1996, some 13-years later, we don’t have these problems! God Bless America!
Written by Dave Rusin - Telecom Executive
Posted by wbrache | Filed Under American telecom, ILEC Corruption, Telecom USA, Telecom news, Telecommunications companies, Telecommunications industry, Telecommunications news
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