Telco wars !

Telephone subscribers could be excused for thinking that the infamous decades following the end of the second world war were returning.

At that time, providing telephone service was a monopoly run by the Postmaster General's Department. Returning servicemen and young families were creating new housing estates - and telephone services were lagging well behind demand.

A request for a phone usually resulted in maniacal laughter. Waits of a year or so were common - and new exchanges and connections progressed at the glacial pace of the public service. There was even a return to the " party line " system in some areas.

Many would be surprised to learn that today - someone moving home from a house where there is an existing telephone connected - to a house which has a similar existing connection - can involve a waiting period of ten working days.

Ten working days - with no telephone service ? It sounds third world - but it is happening right here in Australia - and those who have experienced it recount that over twenty working days is a more likely scenario.

It all boils down to an ongoing war of nerves between the Telcos. They refuse to cooperate with one another and indulge in point scoring, insisting on adhering to any rule that can delay a connection in the hope that their rival will get the blame.

In this world of the Internet - which also relies on a working phone line - communications are not a luxury - but a necessity. It is time common sense prevailed - and if it doesn't - then time that the Federal government banged a few heads and kicked a few butts to see that sanity prevails !