Telstra gets nod for $12b accord

Telstra Corporation, Australia’s top phone company, cleared the last hurdle to an agreement to hand over its copper network to the government for A$11 billion ($12 billion), winning approval from Australia’s competition watchdog for the plan. The approval moves the company a step closer to weighing up ways to return what analysts estimate could be more than A$2 billion to its long-suffering shareholders over the next few years. Telstra is due to get out of the wholesale market after the government completes building a $38 billion high speed broadband network across Australia around 2021, but in the interim, the company will still be operating part of its fixed line network. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accepted Telstra’s promises on pricing of wholesale services during the national broadband rollout, clearing the way for Telstra to seal a final agreement with the government’s broadband company, NBN Co. Telstra has promised that during the period it is still operating part of its copper network, it will offer equivalent prices to wholesale customers as are available on the new government-owned network.