Australian Government to buy Telstra copper network

The Australian Government has negotiated a deal with Telstra to buy their entire copper network for $11 Billion.

The deal is awaiting shareholder and regulatory approval.

Telstra will decommission its monopoly of copper cables and make room for the Australian government’s fiber and move its customers to the new fibre 100Mbps National Broadband Network (NBN).

This may mean Telstra may become a smaller player in the internet / ISP business without a land network of its own. However it may get a larger share in the wireless space. Telstra says it has received ‘written confirmation from the Prime Minister’ that it can bid on a section of the important LTE spectrum should the deal go through.