Australian version of Medal of Honor Heroes 2 missing online

After a 3 month delay Medal of Honor Heroes 2 arrives on Australia stores however its much touted and critically acclaimed 32 player online mode is no where to be seen. The game was released in November last year in the US but held over until the new year for PAL to avoid the Xmas rush, but we have to ask what does EA hope to achieve by removing online from the game and how can they charge full price for a game missing its main selling point. It certainly is strange as even the manual makes mention of playing online.