According to a Friday statement made at a business lunch in Sydney, by the Optus CEO Paul O’Sullivan, for the federal government’s national broadband network (NBN) to be economically feasible, it was important that Telstra ‘structurally separates’ its wholesale and retail businesses.

O’Sullivan said that if the NBN can achieve 60 percent penetration levels, consumers could expect a monthly wholesale access price of $50, which would be equal to a retail price monthly average of nearly $106, for a broadband and telephony package at present.

O’Sullivan added: “We think this is a realistic price level -- and will allow for retail prices which are not out of line with those paid today.”

The comments from the Optus CEO have come in the wake of the federal government proposal of constructing an NBN with up to 49 percent private ownership, at a cost of $43 billion over an eight-year period. There have been widespread doubts cropping up about commercial viability of the proposed network, more so with the sizeable capital outlay involved.

O’Sullivan opines that the NBN could be practicable, given the present fixed line revenues in the telco sector being almost $17 billion per year. He added that though the federal government can legally restrict Telstra’s operations contending with NBN, a supportive move from Telstra would be much better!