So, it turns out that the Government does actually have some balls, as they have officially excluded Telstra from the National Broadband Network process after they lodged an incomplete bid back in November. Telstra claims that the official reason they’ve been kicked out is because the Government claims they “did not include a plan for how to involve small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the building of the NBN” and is kicking up a stink about it being a peripheral issue.
A lot of pundits reckon the next step for Telstra is to harass the government and the eventual winner of the tender either with lawsuits or other tactics so that the NBN is ultimately delayed. If they do, I hope to God the government comes back at them with a swift kick in the nuts – the longer this whole NBN fiasco drags on, the less time we all get to spend with super-fast internet, which just isn’t acceptable.
[Telstra]