Communications Minister Stephen Conroy will support a Senate inquiry into the use of commercial-in-confidence provisions by governments in a pledge to win support from the Greens for a motion ensuring the telecommunications reform will get debated this year.

The CSIRO researcher behind the development of WiFi networking technology used in computers and other devices globally, Dr John O'Sullivan, has been awarded the 2009 Prime Minister's Prize for Science.

Competitive carriers have turned up the pressure on Senators not to delay the passage of Government's telecommunications reforms, releasing survey results that they say demonstrate support for the measures among regional Australians.

Telstra is almost certainly looking for potential buyers of its network assets outside of the NBN Company in a structurally separated scenario that would work against Government’s objectives for the telecommunications sector, analysts say.

Telstra chief executive David Thodey has reaffirmed financial guidance for 2009-10 with low single digit growth and says the company is on target to achieve free cash flow of $6 billion for the year.

The Government's telecommunications reform legislation remains listed for business in the Senate on Wednesday. It passed through the House last week.

The Australian Bankers Association has rejected calls for bank customers to be given an explicit choice about whether personal  information is processed offshore or in Australia, and said its members were already required get consent from customers about the handling of data when they signed up for services.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has accepted responsibility in the Senate for mistakenly releasing confidential information on the value of the Telstra network, and has today spoken directly to Telstra chief executive David Thodey on the issue.

The existing Telstra copper network is worth between $8 billion and $33 billion – and the yawning gap is the difference between the buyer and seller.

Shadow communications spokesman Nick Minchin has lashed the majority membership of a Senate committee that recommended telecommunications reform legislation be passed, calling its report arrogant, hostile and unprecedented.