Terria touts for supplier for NBN rollout

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 13:05

Business IT - Networking

Terria, the consortium of eight Australian telcos planning to bid against Telstra for the right to build Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN), is canvassing for potential suppliers for every aspect of the network build.

"We welcome written submissions of capability from construction and telecommunication vendors with experience in equipment supply, civil construction, project management, installation or maintenance," the company said.

"This approach is in line with TERRiA's competitive supply strategy which will contribute toward it offering the lowest possible access price and will assist it roll out the NBN within the required government timeframe."

However, with submissions to the Government's RFP due in just over two months, the move is likely to spark a response from Telstra - which takes every opportunity to discredit its competitor - that Terria is not serious and is ill-prepared to build the network. Telstra long ago announced Alcatel-Lucent as its key technology partner for the project and has consistently said it is ready to start building immediately.

Terria CEO, Michael Simmons, refuted any such suggestion, saying that Terria's open approach would more likely lead to lower prices than Telstra's "behind closed doors negotiations with its preferred supplier." He claimed that, as telcos already building networks, the members of the Terria consortium already knew the list prices for most of the components of the planned network. It is also likely that Terria has held discussion with the  potential suppliers with whom its members already deal.

Simmons said: "This is more about flushing out new capability possibly at a cheaper price...We are looking for multiple suppliers where one might have an advantage in particular locations, or where there might be problems with volumes."

However, he said it was unlikely that the core network intelligence would be source from more than one supplier as this would require duplication of training, support and management and would increase operating costs.

Terria is calling for written capability statements of no more than 600 words including: details of company ownership, structure, number of employees, years in business; a capability statement; a description of products and/or services to be delivered; the geographic region over which products and/or services can be delivered; and evidence of capabilities such as examples of previous contracts or activities undertaken.

At a minimum vendors must be able to supply their goods and/or services to an entire state or territory. Submissions are to be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by midnight, 30th September 2008.