COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy has had a major victory, clearing the path for Telstra to roll-out ADSL2+ broadband services to an additional 900 exchanges across Australia.

In a joint announcement with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Senator Conroy said the roll-out would give an additional 2.4 million households access to next-generation high-speed broadband.

Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo said the speed of the carrier's ADSL service would lift from 8Mbps to 20Mbps in 900 exchanges around Australia over the next eight months.

The Telstra announcement is great news for broadband in Australia. The company said it would proceed with the roll-out following assurances from Senator Conroy about the regulatory treatment of the initiative.

Telstra had previously baulked at rolling out ADSL2+ to exchanges because it said it did not have regulatory certainty about whether it would be forced to open up the investment to other carriers.

Until now, the company has only offered ADSL2+ at exchanges where other carriers had already installed their own ADSL2+ infrastructure.

The Telstra ADSL2+ investment means fast broadband with download speeds of up to 20 Mbps will now be available in more cities and towns throughout Australia.

“The Chairman of the ACCC, Mr Graeme Samuel, advised me that the ACCC has made a number of consistent public statements relating to the regulation of wholesale access to ADSL services,” Senator Conroy said.

“As a result of this advice, I concluded that there is a high degree of regulatory certainty in relation to the ACCC's approach to wholesale ADSL2+ services,” he said.

“I am delighted that I could provide this assurance to Telstra and that, as a result, a large number of Australian homes and businesses will have access to improved broadband services.”