Telstra in for billions if NBN plans change

TELSTRA could receive a multi-billion-dollar windfall if a Coalition government sought to redesign the National Broadband Network.

TELSTRA could receive a multi-billion-dollar windfall if a Coalition government sought to redesign the National Broadband Network, opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has warned.

Opening up a new front on Labor's $36 billion project, Mr Turnbull said Telstra could receive billions to make available parts of its copper network that it would have been paid to decommission under Labor's plan for super-fast broadband.

Under an $11bn Rudd government plan still being negotiated, Telstra is to be paid $9bn to co-operate with the government-owned NBN Co by decommissioning its copper network and sharing its infrastructure.

But Mr Turnbull warned yesterday that there would be "more billions out the door" if a future government tried to roll out a scaled-down broadband scheme.

"Unless there is a change of direction on the part of the government, the Telstra-NBN deal will not simply deliver Telstra a $9bn windfall for decommissioning the customer access network but, in addition, set Telstra up to receive more billions when inevitably a future government -- certainly a Liberal government, and very likely a Labor government, too -- seeks to redesign the network topography in a way that reduces the crippling cost of the fibre-to-the-home design without compromising the promise of universal, very fast broadband," he said.

The NBN Co has warned individuals and businesses in a recent information pack that "you may be left without a fixed-line service" for the phone or internet if they did not "opt in" by giving consent to the NBN Co to access their land to install equipment.

Mr Turnbull said that very high internet speeds could be delivered using fibre-to-the-node model broadband -- where optic fibres are rolled out to a kerbside distribution box -- at a fraction of the cost of fibre-to-the-home.

But the deal proposed between Telstra and the NBN operator would mean that if a future government wanted to move to a FTTN network, even in part, there would have to be negotiations with Telstra to use parts of the copper network, he said.

Labor had proposed FTTN broadband in 2007 at a cost of $4.7bn but in 2009 it adopted a more expensive policy of fibre direct to the home or business.

Mr Turnbull had recently visited the South Korean city of Inchon and said he had seen there "compelling evidence" that FTTN could deliver fast broadband.

But his claims were rejected by Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy's office, which said that Mr Turnbull "wildly underestimates" the limitations and costs of building FTTN.

"The government's NBN will be cheaper in the long run and offer vastly improved broadband services from day one," Senator Conroy's spokeswoman, Suzie Brady, said.

While Telstra and NBN Co both declined to comment, Mr Turnbull's comments underscore the challenges that the Coalition would face in trying to unwind Labor's NBN.

The deal with Telstra has already been delayed numerous times.

The agreement is now expected to be finalised at the end of this month, with a shareholder vote to approve the deal likely to coincide with the annual meeting in October.

Separately, the joint parliamentary committee into the NBN will review the legislation setting out the way the network will be built at "greenfield" property developments.

And after months of uncertainty, contractors will begin rolling out fibre to greenfield sites for NBN Co after Fujitsu Australia, the prime alliance partner chosen to connect greenfield sites, said it had finalised a $100m agreement with construction group Service Steam for the new developments.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: TRACY LEE