Well folks, the description of the shareholders meeting by...

Well folks, the description of the shareholders meeting by
Stephen Bartholomeusz here

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Telstra-lays-out-its-options-pd20091028-X936Y?OpenDocument&src=kgb
is a classic

"The most common sight and sound at this morning’s Telstra investor briefing was chief executive David Thodey shrugging his shoulders, spreading his arms with upturned palms and referring to the complexity of the issues Telstra is confronting as it wrestles with the terms of its engagement with the national broadband network.

NBNCo has yet to decide its network configuration, has no financials, hasn’t developed an access pricing model, has yet to come to a conclusion on what, if anything, it wants from Telstra or the terms, if any, on which Telstra’s assets or services might be acquired, let alone the complexity of a migration of Telstra customers and services and the detail of the regulatory regime for a post-NBN environment"

Its laughable and an indictment on our political system that this turkey is even being considered for debate. Debate what?
Whether we want to spend 43 billion?

Conroy has some serious questions to answer and as yet we have seen nothing to show that he is prepared to answer them.

It is the classic chicken and the egg scenario. The NBN cant provide answers on its profitability/viability until it knows the outcome of the negotiations with Telstra.
In turn Telstra cant make a decision on its response to the NBN until it knows some details about the NBN. Thodeys reaction at the investor briefing sharply focuses the impossibility of resolving in a meaningful way, the decisions related to the NBN.

Someone has to blink. Telstra has a responsibility to shareholders to uphold. It cant just cave in. To do so would open up huge litigation risks. It must go to the shareholders. But with what? Some vague idea that there is an opportunity to receive some equity in the NBN which may or may not be worth anything.

The government wants Telstra to committ to the NBN without knowing what it is committing to. Sort of like an arranged marriage in the 16th century between royal families in different countries.... you never really knew what you were committing to until the person walked in the door and it was too late.

Conroy has stated that the NBN will be built regardless of whether telstra cooperates. This implies that the government has the ability to just write out a cheque and not have to worry about the economics of it. Well Conroy I am sure the people lending the money to you to fund it will not see it that way. The penalty will be higher interest rates. Like it or not, the NBN will have to have some sort of commercial viability so that the debt can be offloaded to investors.