Telstra shareholders approve $11.2-bn NBN fibre-optic deal
18 Oct 2011
Shareholders of Telstra, Australia's largest telecommunications company, yesterday voted in favour of the company's participation in the A$11-billion ($11.2 billion) high speed fibre-optic National Broadband Network project with state-owned National Broadband Network Co (NBN).
The highly controversial deal, passed by 99.09 per cent of Telstra shareholders, would see the Melbourne-based company transfer its traffic on to the NBN and gradually shut down its ageing copper network with customers being migrated to the new fibre network.
Telstra will become another telecom service provider on the NBN along with competitors such as Vodafone and Optus.
The $36-billion project, however still faces the scrutiny of the country's anti-trust regulator.
Telstra chairman Catherine Livingstone said the directors' recommendation that Telstra participate in the NBN rollout by implementing the definitive agreements signed in June 2011 had received strong endorsement from shareholders.
''From the outset, we said we would put any proposal to cooperate with the NBN to shareholders – we consider the vote today as the most important step in the process we commenced over two years ago.