re: hta - ??????????? BARRYWHITE,There are fundamental...

re: hta - ??????????? BARRYWHITE,

There are fundamental differences between One Tel and HTA.

One Tel was initially funded on “loose change” that subsequently became serious dollars. Daddy never really understood what the juniors were up to. It was the case of - “let’s wait and see what junior can do”. However, when things got a bit rough, Daddy decide to cut loss and One Tel became history.

Things at One Tel may have been different if Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch were themselves directly involved from inception.

On the other hand, HTA and its parent company’s global 3G strategy are driven by Grand Daddy himself. According to people who have interviewed Li Ka Shing, they all come to the conclusion that Grand Daddy knows his megahertz – as well and as intimately as he knows his plastic injection machines and the flowers it produces.

I very much doubt the 3G global strategy would have progressed this far if it was Li’s No 1 or No. 2 son’s project. The tenacity of the commitment shown to date has surprised a lot of people.

Infrastructure projects takes a long time to complete. I have never heard of building a toll road to be profitable from Day 1. Takes many months and hundreds of millions to build a toll road. How you treat the hundreds of millions spent is an accounting matter. What’s important is, upon it’s completion, you hang around and collect the cash – for many, many, many years!

Telstra wasn’t profitable from Day 1. Took a lot of taxpayer dollars over many years to pay for ongoing construction costs (losses in the BILLIONS?). Today, it is a cash cow and arguably, the most profitable company in Australia.

So what is a good investment? The beauty of the human race is that we all think differently - and that’s what makes investing so interesting.

Just imagine, every time you buy or sell a stock, someone, out there, takes the opposite view. Isn’t it exciting?

Best regards

Steelcouch