Why Turnbull is so incensed over "Free NBN Connections" - Anathema to his industry mates.

In 750 words, the Canberra Times eloquently reminds us what Telstra does and how life in the Copper Gulag under "Broadband Fuhrer Turnbull" and his Good Mates, Telstra, or are they his Gestapo?


Read "Telstra in dispute with customer over costly landline installation" for yet another small business that Telstra is monstering over 3 hours of work: a lump sum of $5900 + $299 connection fee, reduced to $2639 + $299.

The PMG pit, pictured in the article, is at the front door of the premises. Reported as a 30 cm distance.

This is the reality at the heart of the Coalition offer to provide "Fibre on Demand": many thousands of dollars for the simplest task, and probably a hefty extra monthly fee on top of the usual rental, just like BT. Just like BT, Turnbull will declare both outrageous charges to be "Cost Effective".

Turnbull doesn't want anyone to think that NBN connections could be free as they actually are. Telstra charges an account setup fee, iiNet (cited by Turnbull) do not.


Turnbull sold Telstra as a failing business with distressed assets: T2 was $7.40 in 1999, T3 was $3.60 in 2006 and the shares kept falling after that to $2.55 in early 2011. The Coalition knew that in 2001 the telephone business based on the copper network had peaked and the decline would be rapid and irreversible. In 2005, 6 weeks after becoming CEO, Sol Trujillo was telling Howard and his senior Ministers exactly this and they needed to take action, quickly. The solution in 2005 was clear and overdue: build an NBN. So in-line with their decade long inaction, the Coalition did nothing.

We know that Howard, Abbott and Turnbull collectively decided to take the money and run, abandoning taxpayers/subscribers dependent on Telstra as their only option for fixed-line communications. They've coldly & deliberately thrown ordinary retail and small business subscribers to the wolves once, they will do this again.

That is the Coalition's grand Copper NBN plan: upgrade and refurbish an asset they've already sold, preserving somebody else's asset, just so they can rent it back from them at premium prices. It's not business, it defies even politician logic. Telstra will still own the copper and access. They'll be regularly charging suckers like you and me these outrageous "lump sums" for their monopoly services.

Telstra shares rebounded to $5.10 following their NBN agreements. The same ones that Turnbull now wants to extend and get 215,000 km of copper and access for nothing from Telstra. Without a shareholder vote, either.

You will remember the Good Old Days, when connections cost "just a few thousand".

Abbott and Turnbull don't just want to take us back to 1925 technically, they want to correct a few business mistakes along the way and screw over the taxpayer seven ways until Sunday.

They've already said on record to me that "the NBN stands to be greatly modified under whoever wins": they haven't begun to reveal the full extent of their "Cost Effective" exploitation and extortion.