Telstra and the Country (1 Viewer)

[Raiks]

There is a valid reason for Telstra's reluctance for providing the Australian rural, regional and remote areas with telecommunications infrastructue. It has to do with historical or empirical evidence of the nation's mistakes. Between 1894 and 1908, Australia gave Women the right to vote and be heard. In 1967 Aboriginals via a referendum were given the right to vote and be counted as Australian citizens, as with women, this gave them the right to be heard.

Why on earth would the Australian Government make the same mistake again with rural, regional and remote people by giving them telecommunications, because if the government did that, then all they'd be doing is giving another part of Australia the ability to be heard.

 

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<3 raiks

 

[braindrainedAsh]

The Telstra sale is a major concern for those in regional and rural areas because there is simply no money to be made in communications outside of the city because the profits do not outweigh the infrastructure costs.

I really do not understand why the govt is selling Telstra.... it's making a profit, so isn't that good for the government... more money to spend on Iraq lol.

Has anyone heard about the young boy that died out on a property in the Riverina because he had an asthma attack and Telstra hadn't come to fix his family's phone for months and months? People need communications services, otherwise they won't live in the bush. And we all know that it is not sustainable for all of Australia's population to live in the cities alone.

I really don't think the government is taking this seriously enough. Just you wait and see, they won't have set aside enough money for the bush, and the government will end up having to subsidize rural communications.... this will come back to bite the government on the ass, just you wait and see.

 

[katie_tully]

The most hilarious thing about Telstra keeping their services in the bush is the fact that they don't provide any services to begin with. Okay, I lie. They provide us with the most basic of services - I can understand why they're hesitant to continue providing us services. I'm sure coming out once every six months to make sure the telephone exchanges aren't breaking down puts a major hole in their budget. A budget which could be better spent on...um...yeah.

 

[katie_tully]

That said. I <3 Barnaby Joyce.

 

[Cyph]

lol..

Telstra as a company is in financial disaster if you ask me. It's having, yet, it's THIRD float... what the hell does that signal?!

A company floats to raise money intially with the hope of raising enough money to get operations up and running, making a profit. Some companies like junior oil explorers, may come back to the market for a second floating to help develop a project and they will get the support of the market. Companies that don't make it from their first float generally aren't well supported by the market after that if they come back for another capital raising.

With T3 about to float... many people still burnt and sitting on financial losses from T2 which floated at around the $7 mark. A very asset and capital intensive business with poor return on shareholders equity of 5%, a dividend yield of 6% (you can get that at the bank for much less risk) with little capital gains likely to be seen, further share dilution, who the hell wants to hold Telstra shares? I sold mine ages ago and I'm pretty confident in saying I'll never hold Telstra shares again.

I'm not sure how Telstra plans to help provide services to rural, regional and remote areas... it just spells even bigger disaster to the company financially to me.

 

[katie_tully]

We recently got satellite internet from Telstra. They talked up the low cost and the speed of the internet, but what they failed to mention was the extra cost for downloading. Ie - we know we have a 500MB download limit a month with 15c per extra megabyte. Telstra didn't inform us that downloading songs or programs made the satellite download extra information. Insert $800 bill here. When we rang up Telstra "apologised" for not informing us about the downloads and "generously" cut the bill to $500. <3 you Telstra. Then three days later we had no phone. Mum drove 10 km to get within CDMA range, rang Telstra. They said there was a problem with the local exchange and it wouldn't be fixed until the next afternoon. So... I would have hated for there to have been an emergency, as everybody in the area's phone was down...

 

[transcendent]

Wow Katie, you live in a hole. I feel sorry for you.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Yeah well that is what happened with that kid, there was no phone access, and his parents had been ringing about it for weeks. It's crazy.

They rave on about providing low cost services for the bush but it is B.S.... your internet case totally sucks, you should be able to have the same access to the internet for the similar prices to city folk. What a rort.

 

[katie_tully]

Hahaha. Our phone lines are so shit out here that dialup often runs at 26,000kbps with 56k modems. When it rains our phones are down because the underground wires get wet =\
Not sure why Telstra are worried about having to keep up services to the country, they already dont.

 

[Cyph]

Katie, so sorry to hear that... my heart goes out to you.

But, it's better to worry about servicing us folks who live in civilisation 'cause at least that way Telstra has a hope of generating enough profit to stay afloat financially and allow us to have communication at all in civilisation.

So just think about the grand scheme of things with it all being for the greater good of Australia as a whole.

 

[walrusbear]

Katie, so sorry to hear that... my heart goes out to you.

But, it's better to worry about servicing us folks who live in civilisation 'cause at least that way Telstra has a hope of generating enough profit to stay afloat financially and allow us to have communication at all in civilisation.

So just think about the grand scheme of things with it all being for the greater good of Australia as a whole.

yeah it's more important people make money off their shares than country people have essential communication services

 

[iamsickofyear12]

People in the country should not get access to the same communication channels as people in the city. They chose to live in the country and there are certain advantages and disadvantages associated with that.

 

[ogmzergrush]

Nobody said anything about the same level of service, we're talking about even basic services not being provided in an acceptable manner.

I'm all for the USO, and if Telstra don't like it perhaps they can surrender their government-granted all-but monopoly, and return the profits which it's provided them with for so long already.

 

[christ_ine]

Sif give more voices to people who resemble Shannon Noll.

(should give them an IQ test before we give them services ;D)

 

[Iron]

Telstra could wait for the sale and rural access regulations, then buy up Optus - letting the old tel co crash and burn.

 

[katie_tully]

People in the country should not get access to the same communication channels as people in the city. They chose to live in the country and there are certain advantages and disadvantages associated with that.

You are so shit. You shouldn't get superior services because you choose to live on top of your neighbours.
Country people pay the same taxes, have the same jobs, face the same financial hardships - why shouldn't we expect to have the same telecommunications systems as our urban counterparts? Why should we be penalised for our choice of habitat?

 

[j_hakka_v2]

Well it's quite clear that none of you have a scintilla of knowledge about economics, telstra and privatisation. Yawn.....

 

[Cyph]

yeah it's more important people make money off their shares than country people have essential communication services

Considering that Telstra is in part funded by equity, you'd wanna keep your shareholders wouldn't you?

 

[braindrainedAsh]

People in the bush need services, it is for the greater good of the country. If rural and regional businesses don't have adequate communications then they may go under. That means communities lose jobs.... more centrelink payments are required... rural and regional communities will continue to lose population if the communications issue isn't addressed. We need people to live outside of the cities, and anyone who can't understand that is crazy. There are a whole host of economic and infrastructure related reasons why we all can't live in the city... plus who would get our food? Grow our cows (lol poor phrasing)? Milk the cows? Isn't beef a major export for Australia? We all like milk on our breakfast cereal, well what if all the farmers all say "fuck you all I'm moving to the city where I can actually check my email more than once a month and where my children won't die if they have an asthma attack because Telstra hasn't come to fix the phone".

People who live in rural and regional areas aren't just bums who do nothing for the country. They are very important, pay their taxes like everyone else, and get a raw deal on most things. Communications services shouldn't be yet another thing to add to the list of stuff the bush misses out on... things like health/doctors, funding for cultural events, roads and infrastructure, public transport of any kind, lack of funding for universities and schools.... blah blah blah.