The first poster had it spot on. I think that broadband investment was too big for the market to resolve in a timely and ordered fashion so govt. intervention was necessary. Much the same case as why govts built power stations and roads - we economically need these things. Broadband is the same. The difference, in the case was that the delivery platform for broadband was already owned by a private company (which ironically the govt built then sold). That company was acting in shareholder interests and the govt. contract with them needed negotiation. I think universal liberalism is a difficult case to make: it's a more pragmatic case. This is where we need NZ to be, how do we get there legally.