Alas, poor Annette

I'm probably expected to crow about Annette Presley getting the Spanish Archer from her company while she's on holiday -- the sort of move more usually associated with the National Party -- but from this distance it looks like just more fallout from the Presley-Dick marital split, and as such none of my business.

It does look pretty ironic however that for a major communications company running both internet and phones a) they don't appear able to communicate with each other, and b) in radio interviews this morning chief executive Martin Wylie's phone seemed congenitally unable to stay connected. He clearly had no more success when he was trying to call Fiji.

What's more relevant in talking about the former poster girl for theft is that in the name of competition, the cheerleaders for nationalising Telecom's infrastructure are now becoming cheerleaders for higher broadband prices. "We can't make money with competition like this," they're bleating about Telecom's new prices. Poor babies. I can't say I'm sympathetic. (Expect to see all the cheerleaders for nationalisation talking soon about how it's in the public interest for the public to pay more for broadband...)

And in a further irony, fresh from sacking Annette Presley, Callplus chief executive Martin Wylie was bleating yesterday that Telecom's new broadband pricing structure "was announced by Telecom without any clarification or reference to wholesale customers." Does he really expect a call from a competitor when they're about to change prices when he can't even call his own company's major shareholder when he's giving her the push?

UPDATE: A friend just emailed me and suggested I make the point that Annette can hardly complain if her shareholding is "unbundled" unilaterally, now can she. "Poetic justice" is how my friend put it.

LINKS: Wholesalers unhappy with Telecom's new price plans - NZ Herald
CallPlus issue put down to marriage - TVNZ

RELATED: Telecom, Politics-NZ