Jordan Carter wrote:
It might be worth noting that the govt's decisions include the following:
The Cabinet "agreed that operational and structural separation are options on which the government is prepared to consider the evidence, and agreed to encourage the select committee to seek submissions on those options".
This does put separation on the table. That's better than it not being there. It wouldn't be there at all if they weren't prepared to seriously consider it.
I guess we have another bite at pushing the point when the legislation goes before Parliament...
While I share Neil's scepticism to some extent (must have something to do with age :) I think what the government had done is to hand Telecom a length of rope (Neil's wiggle room) and said to them "You can use this like good corporate citizens or use it to hang yourself with -- the choice is yours". When faced with just this choice BT *chose* structural separation and by all accounts are doing very well. Look for a review of progress before the next election. Russell