update TransACT has decided to pull out of Terria, the consortium bidding against Telstra for the government's $4.7 billion national broadband network, shortly after the departure of two other members AAPT and Soul.
Terria chairman Michael Egan
(Credit: Terria)
Terria chairman Michael Egan and TransACT chairman John Mackay said it had become apparent as the bid deadline drew closer that it was in both companies' interests that TransACT pull out.
"This will enable commercial negotiations between TransACT and Terria to be conducted without any conflict of interest, either real or perceived, among our respective directors," the chairmen said in a statement.
TransACT had already ceased its involvement in Terria prior to the announcement according to CEO Ivan Slavich, keeping quiet about the departure because of the gag order associated with the NBN tender. It decided to make a joint statement with Terria today to set the record straight.
The reason for leaving originally had been to focus on its ACT based proposal, according to Slavich, although he still thought that Terria's regulatory opinions, such as those on structural separation, were sound. TransACT will remain Terria's ally in making sure that a properly regulated open access network was built, with the bids to be based on common principles.
The Terria exodus was not due to anything sinister happening behind closed doors, according to Slavich, but was simply a consequence of the deadline looming.
"It's getting closer to the date of submission and that's when you need firmer commitments from companies," he said.
TransACT leaving has meant that Terria now consists of Optus, iiNet, Internode, iPrimus and Macquarie Telecom.
I think this shows that the tender process has taken wayyyyyyyyy too long. It's not half obvious that KRudd and Swan are stuffing around, probably waiting for yet another gabfest to provide some sort of report on who should be chosen. Can't these incompetent morons make a decision themselves?
If the Liberal and National Parties were still in office we'd see a regional wireless network already fully funded and under construction and we'd most likely have an answer to the question of who'd be building the FTTN.
All Labor does is stuff around and reneg on deals, exposing taxpayers to potential legal reprisals.
I forget who it was but another user wrote that it is better to have no FTTN at all than allowing Telstra to build it. With all the stuffarsing around that has been going on, along with Telstra being the only bidder to claim that construction costs have risen, I am inclined to agree - scrap the FTTN project altogether and start on a clean sheet of paper with a new proposal to replace/duplicate the copper network with a fibre connection to every home and business in the country - putting aside all the bull$h1t excuses about how big the landmass is and how few people live here.
In the 1800's we built the overland telegraph in what was the most uninhabitable terrain in the world at the time. People like Charles Todd and the then Governor of South Australia didn't sit at their desks muttering that the landmass is too big - they instead found ways to overcome the problem.