| A brief explanation of the telecommunication industry in | | | | deregulation in the late 1980s Telstra have been forced |
| Australia | | | | to offer there services on a wholesale level. As a |
| Telstra owns all of the telephone exchanges and | | | | result, a telecommunication company with limited |
| copper cabling around Australia. The other major | | | | start-up capital can purchase airtime of Telstra for |
| players are AAPT (which recently bought Powertel) | | | | about a quarter of what Telstra normally charge the |
| and Optus. Almost every other service provider out | | | | end user. |
| there uses one of these three providers to actually | | | | What does this mean for me? Well there are |
| provide services. As Telstra owns the cables that run | | | | hundreds, if not thousands of small companies who |
| from the exchange to every single premises in | | | | resell Telstra's services under their own brand. A basic |
| Australia, the other major service providers have to | | | | explanation of this is that at the end of each month, |
| rent the cable of Telstra. This is what is know as the | | | | Telstra charge the smaller service provider a |
| local loop. Telstra charges a flat fee on a wholesale | | | | wholesale rate, which is then marked up and billed to |
| level to the other major service providers for the rental | | | | the customer under the brand of the small service |
| of the cable. Telstra is then responsible to maintain the | | | | provider. Normally a small SP will work off between 20 |
| cable and ensure that it is kept in working order. The | | | | and 30% over all mark up on the Telstra charges. The |
| price of this rental is always in dispute as Tesltra is | | | | end result is that even after the SP has marked up |
| always arguing that they need to charge more to | | | | Tesltra's wholesale charge, there is always a |
| maintain the cables and the other service providers | | | | significant saving over the standard Telstra charge. |
| are always saying they should pay less. | | | | Here is an example of a good deal: |
| Choosing a provider | | | | - Line rental $31.77 |
| I really commend companies like Powertel (now | | | | - Local call $0.12c flat |
| AAPT) as they have been pushing the envelope with | | | | - National call $0.08c per minute (per second billing, no |
| VOIP and trying to bring the cost of services down so | | | | flag fall) |
| that they can compete with the almighty Telstra. | | | | - Mobile call $0.25c per minute (per second billing, no |
| Understand though that for the savings, you are | | | | flag fall) |
| exposed to potentially more problems and longer wait | | | | If you are paying more than this, you are paying too |
| times to get anything fixed. As it stands, the best and | | | | much. A little shopping around will get you these rates |
| most reliable company who can provide you a dial | | | | or even less, depending on your monthly spend. you |
| tone is Telstra. | | | | can do this while staying on the Telstra network and |
| But... Telstra are the most expensive service provider | | | | just being billed through a smaller company. |
| in Australia, so what do you do? Fortunately since the | | | | |