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Yet, despite all this, the government said "no, let Telecom keep its monopoly, despite repeated abuse -- to the cost of consumers and the nation's poor broadband performance."

Exactly why the government of a democratic nation chose to fly in the face of overwhelming calls to unbundle has finally been revealed -- and we should be worried, very worried.

You may think that our elected politicians, and in particular those who have formed the government, are in charge of the country -- making decisions and policies in the best interests of voters and taxpayers, but you might be surprised.

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In a letter released under the Official Information Act, it has been revealed that sitting high in her Telcom Tower, CEO Theresa effectively blackmailed the Labour government into ignoring the call for local loop unbundling.

Reading between the lines, it would appear that Telecom simply said "if you dare to touch our monopoly on the local loop, we will see to it that the NZ sharemarket takes a dive -- and, because our company represents such a large chunk of it, we *can* do this."

With an election not too far away at decision-time, the government could not afford to see any significant downturn on the markets -- so it was clear that those who should have been making decisions based on the best interests of all, chose instead to make that decision based on their own self-interest and the quest to hang onto their well-paid jobs.

Twisting the knife, Gattung pointed out in her letter to government, that due to its investment in the local sharemarket, the value of its superannunation fund would be adversely affected by any fall in market values as a result of forced unbundling.

So now you can see exactly why the Commerce Commission, Telecommunications Commissioner and Minister for Communications have been relegated to the status of empty vessels.

Yes, they'll rattle their sabres, make all sorts of wicked threats and put Telecom on a never-ending string of "final notices" but we'll never see the kind of bold moves that are necessary to ensure New Zealand really gets a truly open and competitive market for services requiring access to the local loop.

Perhaps Clark, Cullen and the rest of the caucus ought to fess up to their real mission statement: "It's all about me"

What do you think about this?

Have successive Labour governments really screwed things up? First by selling Telecom as a single entity rather than breaking out the local loop way back when it was sold -- then by allowing NZ taxpayers to be held to ransom by a corporation solely motivated by profit, bonuses and dividends.

If you were in government, what would *you* do to put things right?

Just a reminder to get those Lighten Up contributions in -- I'm planning a bumper edition next week so I want everything you've got.

Tell us all and see what others have to say in The Aardvark Forums

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