Telstra is committed to genuine talks with the government on its planned national broadband network (NBN) but may be better off accepting functional separation if a deal cannot be reached, the Australian reports. Negotiations are continuing on a daily basis, Telstra CFO John Stanhope said, but he did not provide further details on when the negotiations will end or when an agreement is likely to be reached. If Telstra cannot agree terms with the government it could be forced to undertake a functional separation, which the company says will cost it AUD 1 billion over five years. "That's not a nice way to go but if we have to because we can't reach the agreement... maybe that's a path we could be better off going down," Stanhope said at a conference in Melbourne.
