Let's not call it a national broadband strategy any more because the regulatory changes envisaged by the Government's announcements this morning will change the telecoms landscape in Australia irrevocably, and many participants believe these changes will be very much for the better.

Seemingly sick to death of constant attack on Telstra from “dead tree journalists” with an agenda, competitors and "geeky" Whirlpool critics, Telstra’s “Telstra-phile” Rod Bruem is taking the broom to the critics and whacking them over the head with it.

It really makes no difference whether a Howard Coalition or a Rudd Labor Government is in power, Telstra obviously considers itself answerable to no-one. What other conclusion can be drawn from the monolithic telco's action of answering the Government's RFP to build the National Broadband Network with a non-compliant 12-page document?

After promising for months that it would bid for the national broadband network the Terria consortium has been reduced to a supporting role in a bid from its dominant member, Optus, which through Optus Networks Investments (ONI), has submitted a bid for the NBN "backed by Terria"

Terria - the Optus led consortium bidding to build the National Broadband Network - held a community consultation in Tamworth to spell out its plans for the network and re-iterate its promise to prioritise installation in regional Australia.

Telstra has made an eleventh hour withdrawal from a broadband conference being held in Sydney on 5 and 6 November claiming that a discussion panel was overly weighted with its competitors, and that non-disclosure terms of the NBN RFP would have precluded it from making any meaningful contribution in a 'showcase' session.

The CEOs of the remaining five members of the one-time eight-member Terria consortium planning to bid for Australia's National Broadband Network have confirmed their 'rock solid' support for Terria.

The chairman of Terria, the multicarrier consortium lead by Optus that is bidding for Australia's Next Generation Broadband Network, says he does not expect any more members to pull out, after TransACT followed AAPT and Soul in exiting from the consortium.

AAPT has dealt a serious blow to Terria's credibility and to its chances of winning the Australian Government's National Broadband Network contract, but maybe there is an upside.

Telstra has mounted what might be its strongest attack to date on any attempt by the government to deny it the right to build the national broadband network on its terms, claiming it will refuse any other builder access to the copper pairs connecting customers and that it will compete vigorously with a non-Telstra NBN using alternative infrastructure.