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Yes, I must say that I'm very pleasantly surprised by the government's move to unbundle the local loop and more.

Congratulations Helen, Mike and David -- although it's taken a long, long time for you to see the light, the penny must have finally dropped and, as they say, it's better late than never.

One of the best things about the announcement is the decree that Telecom must be prepared to offer naked DSL (ie; broadband without the dialtone) and this will allow even the most modestly tech-savvy folks to totally sever their connection with Telecom.

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I for one will be ditching my Telecom dial-tone and opting to go fully VOIP as soon as it's practical to do so.

Now I'm not going to detail exactly what's been announced or discuss the benefits that this ought to provide Net users -- mainly because every other publisher and broadcaster has already done so (or will do shortly).

I'd actually like to focus on something that must be a huge concern for the government, Telecom's competitors and every single citizen in this country...

It seems that within minutes of the cabinet agreeing to unbundle the loop, the details of this supposedly confidential meeting were already on Telecom's desk.

Perhaps this, more than all their threats, chain-dragging and nose-thumbing over recent years, shows just how powerful and arrogant Telecom has become.

If the company has loyal spies (possibly even Labour MPs) working at this level within government, surely it makes a mockery of claims that we have any form of national security in place.

Let's hope that, if nothing else, this revelation is sufficient to ensure that the government stays true to its decisions and actually implements these changes with an iron fist -- taking not one iota of excuse or chain-dragging from Telecom.

Surely there must also be an investigation into exactly how this information was leaked and who was responsible.

Unfortunately, I fear that if it was actually a cabinet minister responsible for the leak, the matter will be dealt with internally, the issue will be covered-up, and no real sanctions will be applied (as appears to be the Labour way).

A big boo-sucks to National and ACT who have criticised the government's moves as infringing the property rights of Telecom. Well yes, they're right -- but stomping on Telecom's property rights is a much lesser crime than that which Telecom has been perpetrating on the consumers of NZ and its competitors.

Let's put down the champagne glasses and take a moment to cut through the cheery glow of joy that currently envelopes the industry -- and remember that we don't yet seem to have an implementation date for this unbundling. Let's also reflect on the fact that all those other ISPs who have lobbied long and hard for unbundling will now have to put their money where their mouths are.

What about those smaller operators who won't be in any position to invest the millions of dollars required to roll out their own gear? Will they survive?

What's going to happen to those (like Woosh) who opposed unbundling? Will they now find their whole business model fractured by the ability of competitors to significantly undercut their pricing and thrash them speed-wise?

One thing's for sure, some folks are going to benefit immensely from this unbundling but others may find the going rather tough.

More good news
And while we're on a roll this morning, I've been asked to find out whether any of Aardvark's tech-savvy readers might be interested in a joint venture to develop a Net-based service with global potential.

The person asking is a professional who has spotted quite a niche in his own market but lacks the programming and internet skills to turn that idea into a commercial product. If anyone wants to do the development work in return for an equity stake in what could be quite a lucrative business, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch. No tire kickers though, you need to know your stuff and have a professional perspective.

Did you notice
As eagle-eyed readers will have noticed, sponsorship of this fine blog/column is up for grabs.

Those who have already made enquiries about sponsoring Aardvark should hear back from me this week - and anyone else who might like to do so should drop me a line ASAP.

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