Why don't I own my last mile?

[gdt]

This last mile of cabling from the exchange to my house. That little bit of the network which Telstra owns, charges me a fortune each month to rent, and is using to shut out competition.

Why do Telstra own that? I paid for it's installation. I pay for its maintenance. What sort of bad deal doesn't give me ownership of this wire?

My house's plumbing doesn't work like this, my electricity doesn't work like this. I have to pay for the build to the major street facility, but I then own that build. What makes telcos so special?

That would be the decisions of the regulators who privatised Telstra in the first place. I really should do some research and find out who's responsible for giving Telstra my cable.