Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced Wednesday that his government expected to sell its remaining 51.8-per-cent stake in leading telecommunications company Telstra next year, dpa reported. Legislation to allow the sale will be presented to parliament before the end of the month. Howard has a majority in both houses of parliament, so the enabling legislation will pass. "The precise timing and the nature of the sale is something that will be determined later," Howard told reporters after sealing a deal with parliamentary colleagues that effectively buys support for selling a third and final tranche of Telstra shares. Howard appeased members of parliament in the government coalition who opposed the full sale with the promise of 3 billion Australian dollars (2.2 billion U.S. dollars) in spending to improve telephone and Internet service in rural areas. A rural telecoms fund will be set up with 2 billion Australian dollars from the proceeds of the sale and 1 billion Australian dollars will be spent immediately on rolling out broadband in country areas. The government hopes to get 30 billion Australian dollars from floating its remaining 6 billion Telstra shares. The value of Telstra stock has fallen since the investors picked up the last tranche of shares in 1999. "The decision that we've taken today will, I believe, reflect a fundamental reality and that is that it is quite counterproductive and not in the national interest for the Australian government to own half of the largest company in Australia," the prime minister said. --more 1055 Local Time 0755 GMT
