Following the passage of the bill on Monday that would restructure the operational make up of Australia's dominant telecommunication provider, Telstra Corporation, the country's other telco industry players appear to be breathing fresh air, and for a good reason.

As the Australian parliament worked on through major modifications to the 1997 Telecommunications Act, which was approved prior to the lawmakers long summer break, the industry brings forth fresh hope especially to new and smaller telco firms with an apparent healthier competitive environment set to rule the sector since it was deregulated.

For the Australian government, the new laws governing the industry mark the entry of a national broadband network, which would require some $37.5 billion to achieve full implementation across the country, and the first baby-step is the legislative partitioning of Telstra's wholesale and retail division.

Two more crucial bills introduced by the Labor-led government last week would provide the appropriate guidelines for access agreements between the NBN management and the country's telco firms and would formally create NBN Co as the corporate arm of the broadband network.

Part of the big picture is the inevitable deal between Telstra and NBN Co, wherein the government would have to compensate the former with up to $11 billion for its anticipated losses as it gradually makes way for the construction of a newer national network, set to sit on the better fibre optics technology.

By January next year, the NBN business plan would be made public and in line with Prime Minister Julia Gillard's earlier commitment to allow the average Australians to appreciate the blueprint yet prior to that, Telstra would have to convince the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that its deal with the federal government are well-established.

Telstra chief financial officer John Stanhope said on Tuesday that the paperwork would be submitted to the ACCC just before Christmas and industry analysts observed that the competition watchdog would be feeling the weight of giving its stamp of approval to the deal by the second quarter of 2011.

That would allow for a Telstra shareholders' vote on the deal as the current financial year nears its end in June 2011 and company executives are upbeat that the agreement would be supported by investors despite the reality that Telstra is poised to cede its copper network to NBN Co.

Telstra chief executive David Thodey said in a statement on Monday that the new laws passed by the parliament effectively provided "the legislative framework for agreements with the government and NBN Co that would provide after-tax value of approximately $11 billion for our shareholders."

While the new NBN set up would radically transform the telecommunications landscape of Australia, analysts said that Telstra would not be necessarily marginalised into the backdoor of the industry as the company would still retain its wholesale business of selling access to its fibre, satellite and wireless networks.