Sponsor's Message

A report carried by the NZ Herald this morning suggests that the Telecoms Commissioner Douglas Webb, is going to going to make a "big move" in respect to the wholesale DSL broadband regime.

Excuse me while I yawn a yawn of disbelief and cynicism.

Haven't we heard all this before from the powers that be?

Hasn't Telecom been placed "on notice" several times by the Minister and warned that if it didn't play fair it would be regulated into compliance by Webb and his department about a million times already?

I doubt that Theresa and her mates have much to worry about here and right now are probably smiling quietly to each other, safe in the knowledge that simply rattling a sabre doesn't represent any risk of blood being spilt.

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The irony of this situation is further contrasted by news on the wires today that some lucky sods elsewhere in the world can look forward to getting as much as 100Mb/S broadband connections next year.

Meanwhile, we struggle with near-dial-up upload speeds on our "state of the art" Telecom-provided DSL service and are told by Theresa's gang that we should be grateful for that much.

And what if Webb twists Telecom's arm to give Telstra better terms for reselling DSL services? I think most of us know that Telstra is just Australia's version of Telecom NZ and all we'll have is a duopoly instead of a monopoly. Both players are well versed in exploiting monopolies and will soon realise that it's going to be far more profitable to work in concert to keep all those other small ISPs out of the market.

No, I don't hold much hope of Webb coming to the rescue of those smaller ISPs or the general DSL consumer any time soon.

Once again, New Zealand remains a generation behind the rest of the western world when it comes to its internet connectivity.

Latest News?
I've commented on the issue of advertorial content over at the NZ Herald before but after seeing this story(?) gracing the "Latest News" column of the business section I think they're hitting an all-time low.

Come on -- this is news?

Now I'm not suggesting that the placement of this story is simply a bit of payback for a boozy-lunch for two on an agency credit card, but I'm sure there are some who will jump to this crazy conclusion.

But, a precedent has surely been set here.

If you're planning to change a few words on your website, or maybe altering the background colour of your homepage -- drop The Herald a line and I'm sure they'll feature it as breaking news on their own website.

And next time you're reading something in the paper that you find hard to believe - remember that not all the news really actually news -- some of it is just PR dressed up as news.

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The forums are back up at: www.aardvarkforums.co.nz/forums, have your say on today's column

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