Telstra kicked out of NBN by Federal government

Trujillo is also banking on the alleged inexperience of some of the bidders to give Telstra a second chance at the network build.

“The panel and [Department of Communications] staff have decided to explore alternatives to Telstra in more detail and they can do that,” said Trujillo.

“We all need to be mindful that most of these alternative entities don’t have the staff, engineering capabilities or resources to get started and then to build a network of this magnitude. It’s a highly complex project that will be hotly contested.”

He continued: “The RFP process leads only to the minister getting a recommendation. The minister can talk to whoever he wants to after the expert panel submits their report. He can decide to take to cabinet any proposal he chooses.”

Trujillo said if Telstra was excluded from the NBN for good, that it had other plans and strategies in place that were in the interests of both shareholders and customers.

In particular, Telstra may be forced to rely on further development of its Next G network if the government not only excludes the incumbent from the process, but passes legislation to prevent them from building parallel infrastructure. However, Trujillo seemed fairly confident that this wouldn’t happen.

“If that were done it would put Australia in a unique category with North Korea and Cuba and put us in violation with WTO requirements,” said Trujillo.

“If it were to happen, though, wireless would be our primary broadband play.”

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