Telstra slams Aussie government's broadband tender process

02 April 2009

Australian telecommunications giant Telstra has slammed the government's closed-door approach in deciding the builder of the biggest infrastructure project in Australia's history.

''Telstra was ready to assist the government with its $9.4-billion national broadband network (NBN) tender process, although we have not been asked to do so,'' Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie told a Sydney conference.

He said the process of deciding the builder of the biggest infrastructure project in Australia's history, had been done ''behind high walls, without consulting the company that owns the network that is being upgraded''.

"We simply have to take on trust that the government is fully informed about the critical technical and operational issues and the national security risks entailed in the NBN before it makes its final decision."

The NBN is a massive and highly complex upgrade of Australia's fixed line network which Telstra owns and operates. The network will provide a pathway for old and new media platforms combined, an array of innovations that is constantly expanding, all to be delivered to 98 per cent of Australian homes and businesses. It involves more than 200,000 kilometres of cable.

The SingTel Optus-led consortium is favoured to win the broadband bid, though some suggest just because it's Australian, a new and well-backed Melbourne shelf company Acacia headed by former Telstra executive Doug Campbell is an outside chance.