John Linton
......But every night all the men would come around, and lay their money down....(Cher - still a great song)
http://search.live.com/video/results.aspx?q=gypsies+tramps+and+thieves+youtube&docid=2791912112451&FORM=TVVR9#docid=2784312033417
....Tramps.....
I read this today:
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20081020/pdf/31czgjbxpqx1q6.pdf
Pages 6 – 9 are the essence of this document which is the proposal by the second largest shareholder of Eftel (other than the CEO) to remove the Eftel CEO from his position for total incompetence including shareholder value destruction and of running a company that the auditors allege is unlikely to meet its financial obligations.
I, personally, have no issues with any ‘penny dreadful’ of the communications industry other than why they exist at all. I assume the second largest shareholder of this particular company (Eftel) has every right to be incensed by the destruction of his investment and the fact that the CEO of his company pays himself more money each year while the shareholders see their investments reduced to one thirteenth of the price they initially paid.
However read pages 6 – 9 for what he believes is the situation. Some concurrences in his statements to the comments I made weeks ago when I commented in these random musings that I found it unbelievable that so many untruths could be incorporated in a statement to the ASX are simply a belated response to other people perhaps seeing the statements made in the same or a similar way.
It really is completely irrelevant what happens to, an even tinier company than Exetel , in terms of the general communications industry in Australia but it’s somewhat indicative of how misguided investments in ADSL2 DLAMs are in an HSPA future scenario. It seems Eftel is about to become ‘road kill’ on the ever dangerous road of commercial pretension – completely irrelevant to anyone but Eftel’s current employees and some of their customers – perhaps.
I have never understood how a cobbled together company such as Eftel could stay in business with staffing levels 4 times higher than Exetel's with less customers and lower revenues. The salaries published for their 'senior management' alone are 3 times higher than Exetel pays for the similar functions within our very tightly managed, small company (and that includes Steve's, Annette's and mine).
I read these comments in Colombo earlier this morning while Annette and I were having breakfast and thought it strange that so much ‘bullshit’ continues to surround such a prosaic industry as Australian communications . For goodness sake – the supply of basic data and telephony services should be left to the boring, but often competent and mostly dedicated, people like Steve and me who are more than prepared to waste our lives using our meagre talents and capabilities to provide services that work and are cheaper for the end user than those provided by the rip off monopolies and the other assorted 'posturers' that masquerade as adequate communication providers.
It sometimes seems to me that it’s a complete waste of time to try and make an alternative to bluster and swagger work to the advantage of Australian communication service buyers – but then I get over such pointless views and continue to believe that the presence of such incredibly irrelevant companies as Eftel (which as far as I can see is simply a ‘hodge podge’ of other failed ISPs) is a ridiculous aberration of capitalism at its most absurd.
Anyone think that Eftel will continue to exist beyond this calendar year?
Not that it matters as they are so small and cover so little ‘geography most people will never have heard of them. (irrespective of their CEO’s claims in his 2008 report to the ASX).
Something that is of more incredible irrelevance/relevance was the claim that Telstra was seeking tax payer funding to use its grossly offensive advertising 'characters' in an unbelievable attempt to make a “feature movie” – just how ‘lost’ do you have to be to portray your prospective customers as being as stupid as those silly ads do? Who, within the company, approved portraying Australian parents as being so careless and irresponsible about responding to their children’s questions?
How on Earth, can anyone who is Australian consider these ads trashing of Australian parenthood to be a suitable ‘vehicle’ for a movie made from Australian taxpayer taxes:
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24504612-5006301,00.html
The ads themselves are offensive beyond belief. To believe there is some merit in trying to procure tax money in these really tough times to continue to propagate the view that Australian parents are ridiculously stupid is beyond my comprehension.
Perhaps I've missed the point and the ads actually reflect how Telstra sees their customers - uneducated and stupid? Having been on the end of more than a few Telstra lectures about how stupid I am not to understand basic aspects of communication technology over the past 20 years it may well be the case that no-one within Telstra actually saw anything wrong in portraying a parent as being so ignorant and dumb?
I need a triple Scotch and keep them coming if Australia ever descends to this level of 'corporate' denigration.
Not a good day for Australia when a major Australian company portrays it's prospective customers in the way those two ads have done in the first place and then thinks it's somehow appropriate that such awful views of Australian parenting should be continued in such a way. It appears to show a contempt for Australians generally and their customers specifically which is breathtaking. Or have I just lost any semblance of a sense of humour and the ads I find offensive are in fact wickedly funny and a jolly good old sly dig at today's parenting needs?