re: to open up 11, grant Hi Gavin,Point taken. On the upside,...

re: to open up 11, grant Hi Gavin,

Point taken. On the upside, TLS moved well under the favourable 5% mark (increasing by 2.6-3%).

The Lows may well be close to being achieved. However, I would have preferred to have seen the following before making up my mind on this:
1)
Q3 update;
2)
Board cohesion;
3)
strategic and operational transparency;
4)
strategic management cohesion and transparency;
5)
ownership certainty (one way or another); and
6)
the election done away with.

In 12 months time, Telstra's share price will be much higher than it is today, but a lot of that will have to do with the success of Stanhope's Sigma Six programme.

For now:
1)
overseas expansion is likely to be on hold;
2)
the state of the Hong Kong assets (including as to any further writedowns) needs to be made clearer;
3)
the 3G question needs to be resolved (in Australia, as well as for TelstraClear in NZ);
4)
further CAPEX reductions are likely;
5)
further restructuring and outsourcing of non-core operations is likely;
6)
increased political rhetoric is a certainty; and
7)
less political interference is likely (as Howard moves Telstra to the backline, with a humbled Minister, a slow moving DCITA, a stalled replacement process for the ACA Chair's position, and the Senate "Australian Telecommunications Network" Inquiry, 3x deferred, and now scheduled to report in June).