Australia's decision to build a $31 billion high-speed broadband network could be bad news in the long term for the country's dominant telecommunications company, Telstra.
Analysts say the new network will be in direct competition with the most profitable part of Telstra's operations, its monopoly on lines to the home.
The broadband network is aimed at reaching end-users directly, without relying on Telstra's local copper cable network, which could render the copper network obsolete.
Telstra says the broadband plan will have little impact on its business in the short to medium term because it will take about eight years to build.
