Telstra To Receive $11 Billion From Australia For Entire Copper Network

It’s been a busy week for the Australian government, first they found the infrastructure they needed for their $43 billion national broadband project, then they knocked out their biggest competitor Telstra by announcing the purchase of their entire copper cable network for $11 billion.

The $11 billion deal must still pass shareholder and regulator approval, but given what’s at stake those plans should move forward.

By taking over the network the Australian government can make room for their 100Mbps National Broadband Network (NBN) while migrating customers to the new platform.

The move also makes Telstra a smaller player in the landline market, however they have announced “written confirmation from the Prime Minister” to bid on a part of the countries hard to obtain LTE spectrum which should extend their reach in the wireless market.