The famed deal between Telstra Corporation Ltd and the National Broadband Network (NBN), which amounts to $9 billion, is expected to be signed as early as next week with the cabinet to see documents by late second quarter or early third quarter of this year.

According to The Australian Newspaper, a Telstra stakeholder vote on the deal, originally prearranged for July but now delayed due to long-running dialogues on the agreement, is now expected to be held in October.

Timing and amount of payments to Telstra from NBN Co are the key points included in the discussions. These have been the major reason for the delay.

According to the deal, Telstra will be compensated for discharging its copper network and for shifting customers over to the NBN, while also getting fees for leasing its infrastructure to the network.

A Fairfax Media report showed that a court elsewhere has been told that two former Telstra chief executives, Frank Blount and Ziggy Switkowski, broke the group's access agreement on its fixed-line network by receiving private information about Singapore Telecommunications Ltd-owned Optus.

In the latest exposé in a long-running disagreement, the men were allegedly among 20 officials that received a weekly report from Telstra's wholesale arm that contained particulars of Optus’ domestic and international traffic, which was then used to counter the rival's advertising promotions.

Involved in the breach, which had transpired in the 1990s, are Telstra managing directors, directors and senior managers in the group's marketing division.