SYDNEY - Telecom, a key member of a consortium bidding to build Australia's national broadband network (NBN), has pulled out.
The New Zealand company has withdrawn from the Terria consortium just weeks before the November 26 deadline for final submissions, The Australian Financial Review reported today.
The company
was the second-largest member of the Terria consortium, which is the main bidder against Telstra for the project.
The Australian arm of the company, AAPT, is expected to announce its withdrawal today.
AAPT chief executive Paul Broad said the move was based on the company's decision not to invest its own money in the project and it should still allow the consortium to go ahead with its bid.
"It's the right time because we are at the point where people have to put money into the bid process," he told the Financial Review.
"And we're not going to be doing that."
The Terria consortium said yesterday the global financial crisis had forced it to seek alternative funding for its bid, while Telstra said a drop in the value of the Australian dollar could increase the NBN's cost.
Communication Minister Stephen Conroy played down the comments and said there had been no change to the schedule of concluding the selection process by March 2009.
The government will spend A$4.7 billion on the broadband project, designed to provide high-speed internet to most Australians.
- AAP
