Australian Government Says Can Build Broadband Network Without Telstra

Australia's communications minister, Stephen Conroy, said March 24 that negotiations are continuing between government-owned National Broadband Network Company and Telstra on how the two can work together on a planned national broadband network but NBN Co. can "absolutely" build the network without Telstra.

The minister's stance indicates the tensions between the government and the formerly state-owned telecommunications giant are still riding high. While he has threatened to forge ahead without Telstra's cooperation in the past, many analysts still view the company as best-placed to build the network given its vast existing infrastructure. Conroy would not comment on what Telstra last week called a "significant gap" between the parties' financial expectations about the worth of the company's assets that could be sold into the network. He declined to say what the size of the gap is, but confidential documents accidentally leaked by the government last October valued Telstra's telecommunications-network assets at anywhere between A$8 billion and A$40 billion, illustrating how difficult it is to put a price tag on the assets.