Telstra has been forced to delay its extraordinary general meeting, scheduled for 1 July, due to delays in the process of negotiation over the National Broadband Network. As a result, NBN Co has indicated that the schedule for construction of second release sites may be delayed.

 

In an announcement on Friday, Telstra said that while “all parties were working together to agree and document the various detailed arrangements” needed to implement the NBN, a number of matters were yet to be finalised and, there being a minimum time from when agreements are finalised to when a shareholder vote can be held, the meeting could not be held as planned on 1 July.

 

Telstra had originally hoped to complete its agreements with NBN Co by the end of last year, following the release of the NBN Co business plan. However, when this did not appear until December 20, and a number of government decisions remained outstanding, Telstra set its target for completion of the agreement for the middle of the year.

 

The final agreements will set out in detail how NBN Co will pay around $9 billion for Telstra to decommission its copper network over the next decade as the NBN is rolled out, and for the HFC broadband product. It will also set out terms for the long-term lease of Telstra infrastructure.

 

In February, Telstra chief executive, David Thodey, announced that ‘good progress’ had been made in negotiations with NBN Co regarding decommissioning of the copper network, usage of dark fibre and ducts, use of

 pit, pipe and conduit that will allow more of the rollout to progress underground,  exchange usage, and other roll-out arrangements.

 

Discussions have continued between Telstra and the Government on how it will implement policies announced in June 2010, including reform of the Universal Service Obligation to which Telstra has contributed around $2 billion of the total $11 billion total valuation.

 

Final acceptance of the NBN agreement is subject to shareholder approval, but as yet Telstra has been unable to set a new date for the required EGM.

Arrangements for structural separation of Telstra as a service supplier must also be scrutinised by the ACCC.

 

NBN Co has announced that the deal with Telstra is not impacting progress in NBN Co’s First Release Sites, which are nearing the completion of their construction phase. However, communities with Second Release Sites are being advised that “both the Telstra deal and the ACCC decision on points of interconnect are now being factored into the timing of future rollouts”.