INTERVIEW:Privatization Plus For Telstra Acquisitions-2- (Yahoo/Dow Jones/Stephen Wright) (No, not the comedian.)

“On the subject of acquisitions in the near term, Stanhope said Telstra has been looking at Comindico, the operator of an Internet Protocol network, which was placed in administration earlier this year.

“We will have a look at their assets and if we are interested we will put our hand up, but there’s no decision made about that,” he said.“

It would be silly of Telstra not to take a look at Comindico, but it would probably give a bad impression to the industry if they did emerge as the buyer. The ACCC may also have a few words to say about it, but it is unlikely they would do anything beyond issuing a press release or two.

Hopefully the buyer will continue to operate the Comindico network in some form and not just cut it up for scrap. Cisco would certainly be unhappy if such a large quantity of second hand routers showed up at auction sites.