No compensation if broadband deal drops: Telstra

WELLINGTON: Australia's dominant phone company, said on Tuesday it does not expect to get any compensation payment from the government if a $10 billion deal it signed in June is scrapped.

Australia's conservative opposition, which is running neck-and-neck with the Labor Government in the polls ahead of the Aug. 21 election, has pledged to axe the National Broadband Network and the deal with Telstra for its assets, if elected.

A spokesman for Telstra told Reuters the company had signed a non-binding heads of agreement with the government, so it did not expect to receive any compensation in case the deal failed to go through.