How about reporting things properly? Optus and Terria are neither members of T4 or the CCC. Why do they even get mentioned in this article? How does this report "stop" anything? The govt have asked for submissions, and the CCC have made one. All they are guilty of is following procedure. I ask again, how does it delay the process? There is no surprise that the report has certain disclaimers, due to the fact that after 3 years, Telstra are still hiding detail of its FTTN proposal. Why is it that if Telstras FTTN proposal is the best option for all Australains (if we are to believe the Telstra hype, ) why is Telstra going still making desperate attempts to hide all detail from those who it will benefit? Telstra loves blowing their own trumpet. Why isnt this happening with FTTN? Why arent Telstra blowing the competitors out of the water with facts and figures to substantiate their claims about their FTTN proposal, instead of relying on obfiscation and xenophobic rants to shift focus away from their FTTN proposal. Even an answer to the most simple question. What price Telstra?? What are they hiding? Why cant they back up their empty claims?

Dear Kate, When quoting from a source how about quoting correctly so the overall meaning of the source is not misinterpreted? After stating "estimates presented in this report may not be precise" and that the "estimation error in the WACC calculations presented in this report may be significant." the report states "However, obtaining precision is not the main objective of this analysis. The main point is to show that it is likely that a significant margin exists between Telstra's required return from the FTTN network and the return that an alternative supplier would require for the same asset, and this margin will translate into hardship for the economy and the community." The fact of the matter is Telstra is demanding a higher rate of return that what is being proposed by Terria. A higher rate of return will result in a continuation of unnecessarily high broadband prices from Telstra.

Welcome back Wayne. After your rhetoric was disproved back in February I thought we'd lost you forever? Phew! But sadly, upon your return you still lack credibility my friend. You chastise Kate for supposedly stating Optus and TERRiA are T4 or CCC members? So since you want, let’s be pedantic shall we? Whilst I acknowledge Optus aren’t directly a member of T4 or CCC, strangely I have never seen either group say even one negative word about Optus and visa versa – curious! Also, although technically TERRiA as a whole, aren’t actually members per se’, isn’t it a fact that the overwhelming majority of the 8/9 TERRiA members are in fact members on their own accord, of either/both of these T4/CCC hate groups. Those being AAPT/PowerTel (now merged hence the 9 to 8), Macquarie, iiNet, Internode, TransAct and Primus! How convenient, TERRiA aren’t but their parts are – lol! So Wayne, “how about you practice what you preach and report things properly yourself”? Also, hello again John (Ben) Doe! Here's just a little info for you two nay saying gentlemen, in relation to the G9 (TERRiA’s) last proposal vs. Telstra's (obviously the newies aren’t available, so…): Age 10/6: “Telstra's broadband prices could only rise if inflation was above the Reserve Bank's target peak of 3%. In short, IF TELSTRA BUILT THE NETWORK AND DID NOT GET AS MANY CUSTOMERS AS IT FORECAST, THE COST WOULD BE BORNE BY THE COMPANY AND ITS SHAREHOLDERS. But if demand on a Terria-owned network was below estimates - and therefore not enough revenue firstly to cover costs and the return on investment - PRICES WOULD RISE IN THE NEXT FOUR YEARS TO MAKE UP THE SHORTFALL". Tim Smeallie of Citi (telecoms research) 10/6, suggests Telstra will be the most expensive “upfront” but also likely to be “caveat-light”. In other words, Telstra will be pretty well telling us upfront, how much it will cost us - WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)! Whereas TERRiA will only be telling us as little as possible and of corse that they will charge less than Telstra “initially” (you know, dangle the carrot to get the foot in the door) but after that, all bets are off! So, c’mon! Although, I suppose you guys will blindly say, oh well we still love you regardless TERRiA, even when you BB bill triples – lol! It’s all BS guys. They aren’t serious; they just want to keep things as they currently stand! As such here’s one view from Telecoms expert Grahame Lynch:- “given the antipathy of the current coterie of access seekers against Telstra’s FTTN proposal and their embrace of a FANOC proposal that transfers as much risk for new investment builds as is possible off their bottom lines, I’D SAY THEY’RE HAPPY WITH THE INDUSTRY STATUS QUO THANK YOU VERY MUCH”! And what about this further doozy also from Mr. Lynch - you’ll love this! ~ “THANK YOU TELSTRA SHAREHOLDERS AND VOICE CUSTOMERS, FOR YOU KEEP AUSTRALIA LOOKING RESPECTABLE”! So whether you agree with Kate or not (well obviously not) independent telecoms experts like Mr. Lynch, are telling us all what’s really going on. So either you guys know too, and it’s simply best for you to make silly comments like those above, to further attempt to dupe the masses, for whatever may be your reason? Or perhaps you are simply very patient and will wait forever or even longer, for TERRiA to “maybe” one day save you a few cents (reread above)? Or maybe you are simply romantic dreamers, who await the handsome prince TERRiA whipping you off your feet, whilst riding by on his gleaming white unicorn, so that you can live happily ever after – lol!

The point is this!..Its no use both sides telling us who's going to be cheaper as far as FTTN goes. The truth is the price WILL go up!..It always does!..Every time there is a new innovation, we are told that this will bring prices down! {usually by Govt.} It NEVER happens, does it?..Up she will go! The question is, who will do it better, and more reliably? Having looked at T4 and the 'hangers on' im not convinced that they present their case to convincingly! One of them, much to my amusment, seems to be using some sort of peculiar American skunk in their tv commercials, but still say little , or nothing about the product! We will know little or nothing either, until its all up and running!..Oh, en passant..Cheapest isnt always best!