Telstra chief executive David Thodey has warned there is "a long way to go" before renegotiations of its $11.2 billion deal with the government and NBN Co are finished, despite both parties signing a non-binding commercial framework.
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Mr Thodey told a Sydney auditorium filled with retail shareholders on Wednesday that the renegotiations were now in the hands of the government.
"There is still a long way to go in the negotiations," he said. "It's making good progress ... but we're really in the government's hands [and] we're quite happy where we are today.
"If the government wants to change to a multi-technology model we're happy to be as helpful as possible, as long as it's not a dollar less or a dollar more than we negotiated."
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull had originally told Fairfax Media a deal between both parties would be done by the middle of 2014.
But parties close to the negotiations believe a late 2014 or early 2015 deal is more likely due to the size and scale of the contracts.
The Coalition's favoured national broadband network model relies on technology that uses Telstra's copper line network. The earlier NBN model supported by Labor ran new cables through Telstra's old pipes and ducts.
The Coalition model means there now cannot be a mass rollout of the NBN until after a new $11.2 billion deal is approved by both parties and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
In August, Telstra announced it had signed a non-binding commercial framework that handed ownership of its copper line and pay TV cable networks over to NBN Co for no extra funds - a move Mr Turnbull hailed as a milestone.
