Someone (NUS, I think) has done a survey of developed countries and
found that Australia, apart from being expensive is the only one to
charge for untimed local calls. Others who offer untimed local calls
seem to bundle the charge into the rental fee, but that wasn't made
clear, nor was there any information on the relative rental fees.
It was also commented that the effects of de-regulation in Australia
have not been seen in reduced prices.
I have not been able to find a web reference to that story.
It will be interesting, in the context of the push to achieve world
class performance on the docks, to see the government's reaction to this
story (assuming it is valid).
It would have been nice if, at the e-hot-air-fest, last week, Mr Alston
had made an announcement like - This government is committed to reducing
the cost of telecommunications as far as possible to ensure that there
are no fundamental barriers to an efficient Australia-wide networking
infrastructure.
Mind you the sale, even partial, of Telstra has stuffed that idea up.
The consequences of privatisation are likely to be significant, not to
say unintended.
-- Regards brd +-------------------------+ |Bernard Robertson-Dunn | |Canberra Australia | |brd@netinfo.com.au | +-------------------------+