I agree with you that the nature of the problem in Australia is political, but not that the main root cause is corruption/collusion.
The main problem is that the politicians made promises they cannot keep: cheap fiber to everyone at the same price, at no cost to the state since it will pay back itself.
Well, turns out it's not cheap to build out fiber to everyone, costs differ enormously between the city and the bush and there isn't enough revenue coming in to pay for it.
Since no politician will ever admit they were wrong, consumer prices can't be raised and the buildout cannot be stopped.
Desperate to save money and face, the politicians opted to switch to DSL from fiber, bought up all cable tv companies to substitute CATV for fiber, forbid any competition with the national fiber company and proceeded to squeeze every last penny out of the Internet service providers, since they couldn't touch the consumer prices.
While there are zero reasons for data caps and metered plans, the national fiber network is so expensive to use, ISPs have no other option but to use data caps and metering so as not to go out of business immediately.
The end result is very poor and very slow service on the national fiber network with customers complaining and wanting to stay on old ADSL connections, which is ironic. Unfortunately they can't since the copper network is being decommissioned, so as not to compete with the national fiber network and to bring in more money to the government owned company.
The main problem is that the politicians made promises they cannot keep: cheap fiber to everyone at the same price, at no cost to the state since it will pay back itself.
Well, turns out it's not cheap to build out fiber to everyone, costs differ enormously between the city and the bush and there isn't enough revenue coming in to pay for it.
Since no politician will ever admit they were wrong, consumer prices can't be raised and the buildout cannot be stopped.
Desperate to save money and face, the politicians opted to switch to DSL from fiber, bought up all cable tv companies to substitute CATV for fiber, forbid any competition with the national fiber company and proceeded to squeeze every last penny out of the Internet service providers, since they couldn't touch the consumer prices.
While there are zero reasons for data caps and metered plans, the national fiber network is so expensive to use, ISPs have no other option but to use data caps and metering so as not to go out of business immediately.
The end result is very poor and very slow service on the national fiber network with customers complaining and wanting to stay on old ADSL connections, which is ironic. Unfortunately they can't since the copper network is being decommissioned, so as not to compete with the national fiber network and to bring in more money to the government owned company.