Telstra made some big promises to its shareholders to get their backing on its bid for a new network build in Australia. The main thrust of their promises centered on their own technologies, like NextG, and could put them out of pocket to the tune of as much $4.1 billion AUS, with the government estimating a total cost of over $8 billion AUs for the complete build.

That’s a lot of money, and it doesn’t take into account FTTN (fibre to the node) technology - something the Australian government wants to include in the build. Adding in the cost of FTTN could add another few billion to the cost Telstra carries. When pressed for comment, Telstra representatives have this to say:

“The FTTN investment … I don’t know if it will happen or not — we’re not building it into our financial planning at this stage. We’re working with government, trying to go through the processes and all that sort of thing,” Trujillo said at the company’s half-yearly results day announcement in Sydney yesterday.

The company remained evasive when asked how FTTN costs could affect the potential dividend for its shareholders. Telstra representatives refused to speculate on the potential impact, though financial analysts say you can’t deny there will be an impact the only question, should Telstra win the build, is whether it will honor its promise to shareholders of footing the bill , even in the face of increased costs.

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