Telstra today said it was time for Terria to get serious about building a National Broadband Network (NBN) or get out of the way.

Incoming Group Managing Director for Public Policy & Communications, David Quilty, said today's¹ revelation by Michael Simmons that Terria had not settled on its vendors was a further demonstration it was simply not serious about building the NBN.

"Building a world-class NBN is the biggest and most complex engineering project this country has ever seen," Mr Quilty said.

"It is absolutely astounding that at this stage of proceedings, Terria has not settled on a technology or even turned its mind to who its vendors will be.

Mr Simmons' startling revelation came hot on the heels of Chairman Michael Egan's bizarre comments last week about Terria's NBN financing.

"First Mr Egan said he would be asking Telstra to take a major stake in Terria, despite Telstra repeatedly making clear this is simply not going to happen.

"Then he said the Government would be the majority shareholder in what is effectively an upgrade of Telstra's network, despite the Government selling its shareholding in Telstra last year.

"But most concerning of all, Mr Egan made clear that none of the Terria's existing shareholders is likely to be around in 10 years time. Australians will be relying on the NBN for decades to come and they need a builder that is committed for the long haul - not fly-by-nighters.

"In stark contrast to Terria, Telstra has the plans, the finances, the people, the resources and the expertise required to deliver this critical national project, and a Telstra NBN will be open access.

"Telstra guarantees that, if it builds the NBN, it will be an open access network with Telstra's competitors having access to the network on an equivalent basis to Telstra itself.

"Telstra assumes that the requirement for open access will be legislated by the Government and policed by the ACCC - and Telstra is happy to provide its guarantee of open access on this basis," Mr Quilty said.

[1] The Australian, 26/8/08 p29