NBN legislation receives support from Telstra

Australian communications giant Telstra has announced that it is providing its full support to the prompt passage of NBN legislation following the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2010, which was introduced in parliament this week.

Earlier this week saw the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2010 being introduced in parliament. It has now been announced by the Australian communications giant Telstra that it is providing its full support to the prompt passage of this National Broadband Network legislation, which will implement regulatory framework for the NBN.

Officials from Telstra said that they were confident that the Bill would provide the ability to sort out agreements with the government and with NBN Co with relation to Telstra’s role and participation in the NBN. They added that the Bill also provided more focus and certainty when it came to accessing fourth generation wireless spectrum.

The communications giant has already made it clear that shareholders will have the final say on whether any of these agreements are approved or not, but said that shareholders stood to benefit from the Bill being passed this year so that it could quickly determine the role that it would play in the National Broadband Network.

Telstra’s Chief Executive Officer David Thodey said: “On balance we support the passage of the Bill. We also strongly recommend that consideration be given to further amendments that guarantee appropriate checks on regulatory decision making and bring telecommunications into line with other industries. We believe the interests of Telstra shareholders would be best served by the Bill being passed this year so that a definitive agreement on our involvement in the NBN can be reached quickly.”

Source – Telstra