CANBERRA -(Dow Jones)- Australia's Telstra Corp. (NYSE:TLS) (TLS) may revisit its dumped proposal to build a high-speed broadband network using fiber technology, Communications Minister Helen Coonan said Friday.
"I expect that their decision about fiber may be revisited," Coonan told a media briefing.
Telstra (NYSE:TLS) last month scrapped its plan for a A$4 billion high-speed broadband network that was considered a key part of the telco's turnaround strategy.
Coonan said she believed Telstra (NYSE:TLS) would reexamine its fiber-to-the-node plan because of comments the company made, before shelving the plan, about reaching agreement with the regulator on 98% of issues. Telstra (NYSE:TLS) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission spent six months negotiating on how the FTTN network would be regulated.
"I'm not going to speculate about when they might (reconsider) but clearly Telstra's (NYSE:TLS) interested in going forward in its transformation plan," she said.
Coonan said Telstra's (NYSE:TLS) fiber-to-the-node plans weren't relevant to the company's share offering in October and November.
The government is selling about A$8 billion of its 51.8% stake in Telstra (NYSE:TLS) . The remainder of the government's Telstra (NYSE:TLS) shares will be transferred to the Future Fund, an arm's length investment vehicle set up to fund future public service pension liabilities.
The Future Fund will hold the Telstra (NYSE:TLS) shares in escrow for two years.
Coonan said the government wanted to "encourage" Telstra (NYSE:TLS) to collaborate with other telecommunications companies to build a national broadband network.
"I don't think the government would be forcing collaboration, we would encourage collaboration and Telstra (NYSE:TLS) no doubt has its own view as to how it sees its own commercial priorities," she said.
A group of companies dubbed G9, led by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.'s ( T48.SG) Australian Optus unit, has proposed sharing the cost of a A$4.1 billion fiber-to-the-node broadband network.
The group also includes Macquarie Telecom Group Ltd. (Australia:MAQ) (MAQ.AU), SP Telemedia Ltd. (Australia:SOT) (SOT.AU), PowerTel Ltd. (Australia:PWT) (PWT.AU), Primus Telecommunications Group Inc. (NASDAQ-OTCBB:PRTL) ( PRTL) and Telecom Corp. of New Zealand Ltd.'s (NewZealand:TEL) (TEL.NZ) Australian unit AAPT.
Coonan also said legislation to implement her planned overhaul of cross-media ownership rules would be introduced to parliament "very shortly." She declined to be more specific.
The new laws will allow consolidation of Australia's media sector, with newspaper publisher John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. (Australia:FXJ) (FXJ.AU) and radio and television operator Southern Cross Broadcasting Ltd. (Australia:SBC) (SBC.AU) considered the most likely targets due to their open share registers and quality assets.
Coonan said the new regime, which also lifts foreign ownership restrictions on media companies, would require several pieces of legislation.
"Nothing has slipped and everything is on course to have a very large group of measures considered (by parliament) before the conclusion of the year," she said.
-By Barbara Adam, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-6208-0901;
barbara.adam@dowjones.com
-Edited by Paul Dekkers
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 09-08-06 0012 Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
