Telco 11 Try Some Politicking Of Their Own

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday April 11, 2007

Matt O'Sullivan

A GROUP of telecommunications companies is expected to unveil a campaign today aimed at nullifying the political lobbying of Telstra.

Telstra has been pushing what it says is the need for regulatory changes to encourage investment in broadband infrastructure.

The 11 telecom companies and internet service providers - which include AAPT, Austar, iiNet and Powertel - will present an alternative position to that of Telstra at a conference at Parliament House in Canberra this morning.

Telstra has ramped up its political campaign since the start of the year. It has posted flyers to its 1.6 million shareholders and urged them to lobby politicians via letters and calls to talkback radio.

The general manager of public affairs at the New Zealand-owned AAPT, David Havyatt, said the 11 telcos and internet providers would be "uniting in a message about regulation" at the launch today, but he declined to elaborate further.

The Herald understands the speakers, including Internode's managing director, Simon Hackett, will try to point out what they believe is wrong about the claims Telstra has made in its broadband campaign.

"A lot of people have had a gutful of Telstra's campaign," an industry insider said.

Meanwhile, speculation that Telstra is in the box seat to build a high-speed broadband network after favourable comments from the Communications Minister, Helen Coonan, continues to boost the company's share price.

Telstra's ordinary shares closed 16c higher at a 20-month high of $4.85 yesterday. Its T3 instalment receipts rose 16c to $3.39 - giving retail investors in T3 a paper profit of almost 70 per cent since they listed in November.

Shaw Stockbroking analyst Scott Marshall said the increasing speculation about Telstra building a fibre-optic network had helped push up the share price.

"It's certainly positive," he said. "The reason for its underlying strength has been because of the yield and the pending Coonan announcement, which will be a kicker on top of that."

Credit Suisse also upgraded its 12-month target for the share price from $5.05 to $5.54 last week. It recommends the stock as a "buy".

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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