Telstra agrees to $150m NBN deal

Telstra (TLS) has agreed to a pilot deal with NBN Co that will see the telco deliver the Abbott government’s preferred fibre-to-the-node technology to over 200,000 homes and businesses in regional areas, The Australian Financial Review reports.

Construction will take around a year, with New South Wales and Queensland the main focus for the pilot.

“The agreement . . . represents an interim step while NBN Co, Telstra and the government finalise changes to the existing Definitive Agreements covering Telstra’s pa­rticipation in the NBN,” a spokesman for Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said, according to the AFR.

“It is anticipated these changes will include arrangements for the NBN Co to gain access to Telstra’s existing [network].”

The pilot is not expected to have an impact on the renegotiation of Telstra’s $11 billion access agreement with NBN Co.