NBN Co CEO Bill Morrow expects negotiations with Telstra over the $11 billion deal to help build the NBN will be finished by Christmas.NBN Co and Telstra are currently renegotiating the definitive agreements related to the NBN rollout, including access to Telstra’s copper to support fibre-to-the-node services, with Morrow optimistic the finish line is now in sight.
Speaking on NBN Co’s 2015 first quarter financial results call, Fairfax Media has reported Morrow as stating the deal, along with a separate deal with Singtel Optus, is imminent, with the approvals process to then be undertaken by the government and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
“The ACCC must consider a whole lot more than we do,” Fairfax reported Morrow as stating.
“I believe that we are very close to that bilateral agreement with Telstra and NBN Co [and] I don’t think this is an issue that extends into next year.”
Meanwhile, NBN Co posted an EBITDA loss of $252 million for the 2015 first quarter, however reported both revenue and customer growth.
The number of serviceable homes rose 16% in the quarter to 640,000, more than double than last year’s corresponding quarter, while the number of active users was up 172% year-on-year to 267,000.
This helped deliver revenue of $29 million, over triple of that posted in last year’s corresponding quarter.
NBN Co incurred $677 million in capital expenditure for the period, with operating expenses of $281 million, while receiving an additional $997 million equity funding from the Commonwealth.
The average revenue per user grew to $39, up 4% since June.
“These results reflect the improvements we are making in construction, product development and the end user experience,” Morrow commented.
“They represent solid progress towards our FY15 targets of 1 million serviceable homes and 480,000 end users.”
