Just Another 24 Hours

In a statement released today, Telstra announced that it has ‘provided the Federal Government with a (counter) proposal to build a world class open access National Broadband Network’.

It has not submitted a bid for the contract ‘due to a number of unresolved issues in the Government’s Requests for Proposals’: 

• The lack of clarity around possible further separation
• The 12-month negotiation period under the RFP
• Concerns about the use of Telstra’s detailed information
• The proposed commercial terms issued by the Commonwealth

Today’s deadline was for companies to submit bids.

Most people agree that Telstra is the only viable option for the Australian Government. The Telstra ’counter proposal’ means that the company is still in the running without making a commitment. The company has created a negotiating point with the Government. Telstra is ’willing to engage in discussions with the Government’.

How will Conroy and the Federal Government react? It seems their hands are tied. One wonders how easy it will be for the Government to break up a recently privatised company.  

Hopefully, this won’t result in months of back and forth, he said, she said (as we saw with the previous Government). 

Is this the first step in a long drawn out wrangle between Telstra and the Government that will only serve to further delay the process and muddy the waters? I think it could be.

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