KEY POINTS:
So it's goodbye at last to Roderick, Theresa, Bruce and John - the former Telecom quartet I've crossed swords with for more than 15 years of so-called telecommunications reform.
This cabal, a by-product of Rogernomics, emerged after then-Labour MP Richard Prebble sold the government-owned infrastructure in 1990 for $4.25 billion saying it ushered in a new era of telecommunications. He told a perplexed but largely accepting public there was now a level playing field from which competition would flourish.
It was the first of many questionable statements that put the interests of big business ahead of the public good.
Roderick Deane became Telecom chief executive in 1992 and is the architect of the regime that has deprived New Zealanders of a decent telecommunications service.
His strategy was simple. Deane would build Fortress Telecom from which he and his cohorts would block, stall or mitigate every regulatory and competitive threat while they duped and ripped off a hapless public.
For many years he had a free ride as successive governments agreed with the idea of light-handed regulation - none more so than National communications minister Maurice Williamson, who seemed like a puppet in Deane's hands.
Gradually governments began to realise that when it comes to essential infrastructure, leaving its destiny to market forces is a really stupid idea. Laissez faire economics in the telecommunications market simply reinforces the power of the incumbent monopoly and competition is strangled as soon as it sprouts.
Deane groomed Theresa Gattung and Bruce Parkes in his fortress mentality - and the pair, she as chief executive and he as head of government relations, were formidable. She was loud and gauche and he was goofy and affable, but both were ruthless in their battle against regulation.
They were joined six years ago by spinmeister John Goulter, Telecom's chief apologist for its anti-competitive ways, who, by the end of his tenure, had perfected the art of saying black was white to the point where I think he believed it.
Telecom's relationship with the press was a mixed bag. Sometimes they turned on a charm offensive. During the America's Cup, as a guest on a Telecom spectator boat, I was plied with hospitality and chatted with Theresa about the racehorse she owned with Paul Holmes. But mostly it was unpleasant.
Invariably whenever I wrote a story, Goulter or one of his cronies, would ring the next day to complain. It was never about factual errors, but always about the tone or other information that I ought to be aware of. Often they would take the matter up with the editor. It was a bullying tactic designed to wear a journalist down.
All the while Deane was in the background as Telecom chairman, advising his protégés and laying down the law with Government ministers. You could argue he was the most powerful person in New Zealand. He was like a smiling assassin calmly drawing his opponents close - so they could smell his aftershave - while he quietly said "no".
The ways Telecom has abused its monopoly power and engaged in anticompetitive practices are too many to mention. But the one that stands out for me was the infamous "0867" scheme - a 2c per minute tax Telecom unilaterally imposed on dial-up internet users in 1999 if they didn't dial that prefix.
It was the brainchild of Parkes and was designed to stop competing internet providers who were taking Telecom customers in droves. The plan was the subject of High Court cases and injunctions which Telecom lost. It is still before the court in action taken by the Commerce Commission for breach of the Commerce Act. But it didn't bother Telecom.
Despite having to make out-of-court settlements Telecom still won because once again it had obfuscated and delayed enough to cripple competitors.
Telecom's influence knew no bounds. In 2004 when it was clear to all that Telecom's monopoly on residential phone lines must be opened to competition, Telecommunications Commissioner Douglas Webb's ordered against local loop unbundling - even though a detailed report by his own office advised in its favour.
To this day no one has been able to explain why Webb performed his incomprehensible back flip.
But now as Roderick, Theresa, Bruce and John depart, I feel compelled to question their ethics. Some would say they were just doing their job - in fact doing it very well.
But thanks to their sterling work, their legacy is that while the rest of the world races ahead with faster, cheaper and unlimited broadband, not to mention voice services that are almost free, New Zealand in 2007 has a telecommunications system that's the equivalent of the party phone lines of the early 60s. Yes, I am angry.
