Australia - Telstra and Optus have signed an AUD 11 Bn deal to access the Govt's NBN

[radio australia] Australia's plan to build a 35 billion dollar national broadband network has cleared one of its final hurdles.

The country's biggest telecommunications company, Telstra, has signed an 11 billion dollar deal to allow the N-B-N access to its network, customers and infrastructure.

The Singapore-owned Optus telco has signed a similar deal for 800 million dollars.

The government says the N-B-N will boost productivity and transform the economy, by helping to overcome Australia's historically slow internet speeds.

But the opposition says the deal is a waste of taxpayer money that will entrench the N-B-N as a giant state-owned monopoly.

Planned Australian broadband network clears key hurdle