The New Rules on Telstra

Like many Australian mums and dads, my wife and I bought shares (O.K., installment receipts) when local telco monopoly Telstra was first offered to the public in 1997. A few years later, with our second child on board, we bought more shares when a further slab of the company was privatized in the so-called T2 offer. Australians were then still relatively new to direct share ownership, once the preserve of the wealthy. The stock market was buoyant, especially the technology and telecommunication sectors. If there was any qualm about the wider economy ("a miracle economy" after sailing through the Asian financial...