Conroy attacks angry Telstra investors
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has lashed out at major Telstra investors angry at the government's plan to break up the telco, saying it's "difficult" to understand the companies' negative conclusions about the government's actions.
Stephen Conroy at the ATUG Awards earlier this year
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet.com.au)
"Under the previous Telstra management, the Telstra share price fell almost 40 per cent from when Sol Trujillo was appointed to his departure announcement ... Did we hear anything from these large institutional investors during that period?" Conroy said in a speech to the CommsDay Summit in Melbourne this morning.
"These institutional investors seem to ignore the fact that many analysts in the market see the positive opportunities that are open to Telstra through a combination of the NBN roll-out and the regulatory package."
One of the institutional investors protesting the Telstra separation plan is Investors Mutual. The group's investor director Anton Tagliaferro intensified his ongoing attack on Conroy's plan again this morning in a column for the Australian Financial Review.
"The proposed Bill, by enforcing separation, will lead us down the same path of errors that has occurred overseas in countries such as the US and Britain, and result in lower investment across the industry and inferior services to consumers," Tagliaferro wrote.
"As I have said before, the government strongly believes it is possible to achieve a win-win outcome in the interests of Telstra, its shareholders and, more broadly, all Australians," said Conroy in his speech.
Separately, Conroy rejected Opposition calls to delay the passage of the associated telecommunications industry reform legislation.
"We remain absolutely committed to debating and passing this legislation before the end of this year," Conroy said. "As I have said, there is no justification for delaying these fundamental reforms.
"We have consulted broadly. The regime has failed. We are acting now to reform communications in the interests of all Australians."