Speaking at a business lunch in Melbourne yesterday the Telstra boss said that Telstra was expecting to produce between $6 billion and $7 billion in free cash flow in the 2009-10 financial years.

"We can finance whatever it is we think is part of a build that we have in mind," he said.

According to today's Australian newspaper Telstra have said that they need more information from the federal Government before deciding whether to bid for the right to build the broadband network, for which proposals are due by November 26.
"We have asked for some clarification from the Government in terms of their intentions, and so we are waiting for a response which will help us in terms of the determinations that the board will make," he said.

Telstra has said it may not bid for the right to build the network if the deal is conditional on the separation of the company's wholesale and retail operations. Some analysts believe that Telstra could well go it alone in the building of a new broadband network if the Federal Governments demands separation of the Telstra business units.

Trujillo said "I would like to see some decisions taken sooner so that we can start driving more productivity benefits and helping businesses become more aggressive in some of their operating plans that will help profitability, which will then help employment, which will then have that positive cycle that Australia, I think, would like to see."

Telstra claim that they are yet to feel any significant impact from the economic and financial downturn, he said.