From: lawriew@runx.oz.au (Lawrie Waller)
Subject: Re: Optus v AOTC.  The Facts. (was Re: Cream-Skimming)
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare.  Sydney, Australia.
Distribution: aus
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 06:27:27 GMT

In article <6948@otc.otca.oz> brendan@otc.otca.oz (Brendan Jones) writes:
>Followups should probably go to aus.politics...
>
>in article <1992Dec12.234850.16243@runx.oz.au>, lawriew@runx.oz.au (Lawrie Waller) says:
>>> [re competition]
>> But at what price? I note for instance that the current Optus/Telecom
>> price war is being directed at STD and hence essentially benefits the
>> business phone user.
>
>So you don't have any friends or relatives who live out of town or overseas?
>You'd be one of the few!!
>

Well actually I do but some 70% of my not inconsiderable telephone
bill is chalked up with "local" calls. Thus any advantage from STD
will be readily offset by charge increases for local calls. In this I
dont believe I am one of the few!

>> Now this of course can't be bad for a Country so deep in recession.
>
>Exactly.  Telecommunications reform is one extremely important area of 
>microeconomic reform that the Government has moved on and yet has had little
>credit for in the media.
>
>> (depression?).
>
>The only people who say this are people who haven't read about (or 
>experienced) the conditions in Australia in 1929.  When we have 30% adult
>unemployment and a 20% contraction in GDP come back and tell me we're in a
>depression.

Perhaps you should ask this of the 1million (+) unemployed!!! I think
all the talk of GDP contractions etc woulnd not ease their depression.
BTW I was born in 1931,so the 30's depression was very much made vivid
to me by my parents from an early age. While I am dependent on
anecdotal evidence, I think todays long term unemployed are copping it
just as tough as those in the 30s. if you take the increased life
style expectations of today into consideration.

>
>> But why the deadly silence on the cost of "local" calls?
>
>I wouldn't call it deadly.  Most people in the industry knows that if local
>calls were to be priced closer to the cost of provision, they'd be timed.
>Short calls (eg most calls are 3 minutes or less) would probably be cheaper
>than they are now.  Of course, timed local calls are politically unsaleable,
>so the status quo will remain.
Ok let's call it dishonest silence then-as I agree that the industry
has long known that the reform you laud so much would lead to
increased local call costs. So why havent the people at large been
told this? If it has been advertised and I missed I apologise in
advance.
>
>What you also have to understand is that advances in transmission technology
>(eg optical fibre) and networking mean that increasingly the cost of a call
>will become less dependent on distance and more dependent on the use of
>resources (circuit hold time).  This is the main reason why long distance and
>international calls have plummeted in price compared to the CPI whilst local
>calls have stayed pretty constant in price.
Believe me this I do understand-but as I was involved I would argue
that the reduction in ISD costs to date have been due mainly to
factors other than improved technology-if you take satellite
technology as a given. Which considering the maturity of INTELSAT etc
is probably a reasonable thing to do.
>
>-- 
>Brendan Jones  | ACSnet:  brendan@otc.otca.oz.au               | This space
>R&D Contractor |   UUCP:  {uunet,mcvax}!otc.otca.oz.au!brendan | for lease
>Network Access |  Phone:  (02)287-3128    Fax:  (02)287-3299   | pending new
>|||| OTC ||    |  Snail:  GPO Box 7000 Sydney 2001, AUSTRALIA  | .sig


-- 
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lawriew@runx.oz.au              |Friend is sometimes a word devoid of
Lawrie Waller-SYDNEY AUS        |meaning;enemy,never.(Victor Hugo)
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Newsgroups: aus.politics