Announcements confirming this deal are expected in the next few days, with the NBN Co stating it will acquire the cable networks Telstra and Optus rolled out in the mid-90s for their pay TV offers.
The NBN Co, Telstra and Optus have established how they will work together on the NBN and according to industry commentators, this is a major step in the overall plan.
NBN Co will upgrade the hybrid fibre coaxial networks from Telstra and Optus to speed up the roll out of the NBN. This deal is quite different to Labor’s national fibre to the home network, with the original deal valued on a net present value basis that discounted payments which were to flow over decades. Actual payments over 55 years were estimated at $98 billion.
The new deal should lock this value in and add to it, because Telstra will also be paid as an adviser to the roll-out and construction overseer.
Overall, the hybrid fibre network was costed at a maximum of $41 billion a year ago, but NBN Co said last month there were too many unknown factors including incomplete negotiations with Telstra and Optus, for it to forecast for the final two years of the plan.
With the Telstra and Optus negotiations finalised, it remains on course for what Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann say will be a more detailed corporate plan next year, covering 2015, 2016 and 2017.
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