Wow Gosh.... That was a bit long winded. Yep USO is way past its...

Wow Gosh.... That was a bit long winded.
Yep USO is way past its used by date.
But Telstra still supplies landline and radiotelephones to remote communities and stations often with massive subsidies. The USO was about supplying everyone with a landline. The cost of installing and maintaining copper lines in Arnhem Land , or providing landline services in the Kimberly is a lot more than the $10 per month they get for the copper line.. So if the government wants to force Telstra to provide lines at the same price everywhere, you can understand why they need some sort of compensation.

Probably 90% of the people that the USO was supposed to help are now on mobile phones.
Telstra probably still need something to cover the remaining 10% or maybe the NBN takes care of the USO

It certainly needs to be reviewed.