Telstra wants the Government to impose an application fee and bonds on potential bidders for the FTTN tender, and set out other quantifiable benchmark criteria for the required technical and financial capabilities of the proponents.

Those companies selected for the short list should lodge a $100 million negotiation bond, which would be refundable if they were unsuccessful or withdrew, converting to a performance bond for the successful bidder.

Telstra’s Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs, Dr Tony Warren, said it is time for bidders to put their money where mouth is on FTTN:

"Our suggestions are for an efficient, objective, competitive RFP process which will fulfil the Government’s goal of commencing the National Broadband network build before the end of the year."

The Government has committed to a high speed broadband network providing at least 12Mbps to 98 per cent of the population utilising fibre-to-the-node technology. The Government is committing $4.7 billion to the process.

To be eligible to bid, Telstra has suggested that proponents must have constructed and operated a broadband network in Australia or overseas with capital expenditure of more than AU$3 billion in the past five years, and currently manage a network with more than 500,000 customers.

Bidders must also have secured binding funding commitments to the project of at least AU $5 billion.

"It is unusual for a Government to make such a large financial commitment to an FTTN project, and we don’t think it should be treated by speculative bidders as a 100% mortgage," Dr Warren said.

"We don't want any G9 pretenders stringing out the process, or half-baked proponents like OPEL slipping through with flimsy plans and meaningless 'in-kind' contributions."

More information:

• Telstra's Submission FTTN Request For Proposal (PDF - 276KB)