The Terria consortium of eight telecommunications companies said on Thursday if its bid was successful it would immediately offer a stake in the network company to the nation's leading telco.
"If the business case of ... Terria is reliant on Telstra taking a substantial equity stake, they need to go back to the drawing board," incoming group managing director of public policy and communications David Quilty told reporters through a spokesman.
"Telstra has made it totally clear it is not interested in playing lovey dovey with its competitors."
Earlier on Thursday, Terria chairman Michael Egan made the equity offer, saying it would ensure the network was being operated fairly.
Egan admitted the irony of the offer which would see Telstra pay Terria.
"Like any equity player you can't be a shareholder in a company unless you own some shares. If we win the bid they will then have the option of coming on board."
Egan said if Terria won, it would start building the network next year.
"I think the roll-out would start some time in the first half of next year, the earlier the better."
That roll-out would begin in poorly serviced areas.
"(There is) no point in focusing first on those areas that are already relatively well catered for. This is a real opportunity to address some of the disadvantages that country and regional areas suffer in telecommunications."
Egan's comments came as Terria lodged its submission to the Senate select committee into the network.
It will not be made public until the closing date for all submissions, September 12.
Egan also used his visit to Canberra to launch an advertising campaign designed to highlight Terria's bid for the fibre-to-the-node network.
Terria has hired billboards at Canberra Airport as part of what it calls a national awareness campaign.
The billboards read "advance Australia fairly" and say "only an independent network can provide open access and competitive pricing for 98 per cent of Australians".
Quilty slammed the ad campaign.
"Telstra invests in networks like Next G and Next IP while Terria invests in airport billboards."
