Telstra''s privatisation completed after 10 years

20 November 2006

Investment analysts who are dismayed at the slow pace of the government''s divestment can take heart. Australia''s largest phone company, Telstra, has finally completed its privatisation process, after a decade long effort with unions and politicians weighing in against the move.

The Australian government finally managed to divest its 51.8-per cent majority ownership of the former telecom monopoly that allowed its shares to start trading last week.

The value of the government''s stake was estimated at A$24 billion (Rs83,208 crore), the first lot of which was sold for A$8 billion last month. In the sale of the final lot of the remaining one-third shares the government ended up adding nearly twice the amount — A$15.5 billion (Rs53,738.5 billion) — to its coffers.

According to reports, the sale of the third and final tranche of shares was heavily oversubscribed and the divestment has enabled 10 per cent of Australians to become Telstra shareholders.

The Telstra privatisation had been dogged by controversy and it took the former Australian monopoly a decade to complete the process, which had been stalled with politicians weighing in against the divestment on the grounds that rural services would be jeopardised.

Its last sale of shares in took place in 1999 and ever since then its prices have halved, with the carrier losing revenue in its only business offering — traditional fixed-line services services.