Telstra CEO not bothered by future change of government

Telstra CEO David Thodey says a change in government will not affect the company, with NBN contracts giving the communications giant a degree of protection.

Thodey said the NBN model being proposed by the Coalition would be faster to roll out than one being pursued by Labor, The Australian reported.

“Definitely fibre-to-the-node is a faster and cheaper deployment,” Thodey said.

“However, in some areas the copper has been there for a long time and there could be issues.”

The deal with NBN Co might have to be renegotiated, he told Business Day.

”We would have to maintain the copper in the longer term, and there would be some costs involved there, but that would offset against maybe some other benefits … In the bigger scheme of things, it is not significant,” Thodey said.