Telstra admits company must accept some of the blame for the NBN

John Mullen believes Australia would have access to better broadband had the government not embarked on the NBN

The Telstra chair, John Mullen, has admitted the company must accept part of the blame for the NBN due to its "recalcitrance" in helping the then Labor government's NBN policy a decade ago.

Mullen told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Melbourne on Tuesday he believes Australia would have access to better broadband than is available on the NBN today, at no cost to taxpayers, had the government not embarked on rolling out the NBN.