Australian incumbent Telstra has said it will delay a shareholder vote on its participation in the country’s national broadband network.
According to a statement, talks with the company set up to run the network, NBN Co, are “progressing well but the…
Australian incumbent Telstra has said it will delay a shareholder vote on its participation in the country’s national broadband network.
According to a statement, talks with the company set up to run the network, NBN Co, are “progressing well but the size and complexity of the deal meant that it would not be ready to go to a shareholder vote on July 1 as planned…Work continues to reach final agreement as soon as possible”.
Because of the statutory periods needed for government and Telstra to meet and reach agreements, the 1 July 1 date is “no longer practicable”, the company said.
No new date has been set.
Last year, Telstra CEO David Thodey had hinted that the half-year date was “ambitious”, according to the Herald Sun.
Earlier this month, Telstra said it was looking into new business areas, in case the NBN plans were not successful.
Speaking to investors, Telstra CFO John Stanhope was quoted in The Australian saying that options included a combination of fibre and copper-based high-speed broadband networks, which would be less expensive than a pure fibre solution.
Telstra last year signed a non-bidding agreement with NBN to participate in the project, which necessitates a structural separation.
The US$36bn fibre network aims to connect more than 1.7 million premises by June 2013.
