Punters respond to Sol T's suggestions to Barack Obama

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 20 January 2009 10:44

Opinion and Analysis

Late last week, an article carrying Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo's byline ran in the US periodical BusinessWeek. Reader reactions have been as interesting as the article itself.

In essence, Trujillo called on the incoming Obama administration to provide funding to extend America's wired and wireless broadband networks.

"Based on what I have seen as CEO of media and telecommunications companies on three continents, I believe the U.S. should use a small portion of its stimulus spending as seed money for the nationwide deployment of high-speed broadband networks, wireless and wired, capable of transmitting data at speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps), compared with speeds of one or two Mbps that are common today." he wrote.

So how was this idea received?

Given the lack of regard a section of the Australian public has for Trujillo, it's hardly surprising that some of the commenters suggested he returns home to the US.

But they were outnumbered by what seem to be happy Next G customers spruiking the advantages of wireless broadband, notably the speed and reach.

Others apparently writing from direct experience of the Australian market complained about the slow broadband speeds, high prices coupled with low download quotas, and opposition to government policies aimed at bringing affordable broadband to most Australians.

The cynical among us will doubtless assume - depending on their own perspectives - that those comments were posted by either Optus or Telstra stooges.

What else came up in the online discussion? See page 2 .