Fresh from stressing the need for satellites to order to properly fulfil its universal broadband remit, the recently formed Australian government-owned NBN (National Broadband Network) Company has signed off a significant portion of its A$43bn capital…
Fresh from stressing the need for satellites to order to properly fulfil its universal broadband remit, the recently formed Australian government-owned NBN (National Broadband Network) Company has signed off a significant portion of its A$43bn capital investment budget to Australian telecoms incumbent Telstra.
Under the terms of the non-binding Financial Heads of Agreement, NBN would pay Telstra some A$11bn (post-tax, net present value) in phased payments in return for the decommissioning of Telstra’s copper network and transferring its customers across to a new fibre-optic network. The deal is also in order to preclude the need for any network duplication.
However, the non-binding agreement remains contingent upon a number of items, including the passage of enabling legislation, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approval and a successful Telstra shareholder vote, which is not likely to occur until the first half of 2011 at the earliest.
Such a deal though is not expected to impact on NBN Co’s plan to order two Ka band satellites, one of which will be an in-orbit spare. With the cost of rolling out Telstra’s network across the country prohibitively expensive, satellite remains the number one choice to offer last-mile internet services in rural areas.