Yes. It’s in the legislation.
Given that they’re not my words, I’ll use some of my own. The terms public and government are not synonymous. As you point out, the government controls spectrum, the public doesn’t.
If you take the trouble to follow the link above, you’ll find:
There was a time when Telstra (or was it Telecom?) advertised how lucky Australia was to have a single, coordinated mobile 'phone network. If you had a mobile, then it just worked - or not. We didn’t suffer the inefficiencies of multiple competing networks. Somewhere along the line, we stuffed that up.
As Kenneth Davidson wrote in 2002:
“Optus has spent $14 billion duplicating the Telstra network … There are four mobile phone networks, each with their own towers, billing systems and shrill advertisements.As a result, Australia’s relative efficiency in telephony has declined. …
Competition means black spots in the country and a “choice" between four mobile phone networks in the city.”
The mobile network, it seems, is no less a natural monopoly than land lines.
An interesting assertion. Can you prove cause & effect? How things might have developed without privatisation, we’ll never know.
Anyway, this is degenerating into ideology. Best take it to the Departure Lounge.
