Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner informed the parliament on Monday that the billion-dollar deal between the federal government and Telstra would directly benefit the telco's shareholders.

Mr Tanner hailed the agreement as a major breakthrough in efforts by the government to slash the cost of the National Broadband Network project by simply leasing Telstra's existing infrastructure.

He said that the deal is a win-win scenario for all parties involved, stressing that "this agreement is not only good for our economy, it's not only good for Tasmania and the rest of Australia, it will also, in my view, be also good for Telstra shareholders."

Mr Tanner is confident that as the broadband network rolls out, much of business activities around the country would swing to the digital world and "as the biggest single player by far in the telecommunications sector in Australia, Telstra was superbly positioned to benefit."

He noted that Telstra is also poised to get an additional $2 billion to compensate for any regulatory changes in the telecommunications sector, seen or unforeseen as covered by its agreement with the government.

However, the opposition scored the giant deal and accused the Rudd government of exercising strong-arm tactics to force Telstra into the agreement.

Opposition spokesman Andrew Robb said that the government effectively put a gun on the company's head and intimidated it with threats of structural separation, telling media personnel in Canberra that "this is a deal struck out of intimidation and a gun at the head of Telstra."