Telstra confident to be winner in Oz

date: 20 November 2000

Chief Executive of Telstra Corp, Dr Ziggy Switkowski has said that the company is confident of success at a reasonable price in Australia's 3G competition.

Switkowski believes the 3G auction, to be held early 2001, will not be as expensive per user as the German and UK auctions and said the factors pushing the need for spectrum to run 3G services are different in Australia. He referred to the most recent European license allocations as he tried to instil shareholder confidence at the company's AGM, "we believe that the outcome of the auction here will be much more reasonable than some had originally feared.", he said. Dr Switkowski also said Telstra previously had a good record of relating capital directly to generating revenue and making appropriate returns.

The Australian Communications Authority will not delay the 3G auction which will still take place in January 2001. As reported in an earlier 3GB News Alert, One.Tel had appealed for to delay the auction.

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