Australia cleared a key hurdle on Thursday in setting up a $38 billion high-speed broadband system after phone operator Telstra agreed to rent out its network for the nation's biggest infrastructure project in decades.
The deal is a boost for Prime Minister Julia Gillard's deeply unpopular minority government, which has made improving patchy and expensive internet services across a country the size of western Europe a key policy platform.
One business group welcomed the National Broadband Network's A$11 billion ($11.6 billion) deal with Telstra and a similar A$800 million agreement with rival Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications, which was also unveiled on Thursday.
"Australia is a very remote country, and the possibilities of the NBN are enormous, so businesses are very keen to embrace it," Heather Ridout, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, told Reuters. The project aims to bring high-speed Internet access to more than 90 percent of Australian households using fibre-optic cable, with the rest serviced by wireless or satellite.
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