In response to a query during the announcement of VHA's results for 2018 on Wednesday, Berroeta said Telstra was complaining despite what he termed a disproportional sum being paid to the company by NBN Co even though it was smaller retail service providers that were being affected more by NBN Co's pricing.

“Ultimately the ones that have big market share grow their market share and the NBN for one reason or another has made the life of new entrants or smaller players quite complicated," he said.

There have been several  calls for a write-down of the NBN's value, including from Telstra's chief executive Andrew Penn.

Berroeta said there was little margin in the NBN retail business but the company had started a division for this business last April because it believed this was a complementary product for customers.

His comments came after Vocus Group chief executive Kevin Russell said the group was no longer going to tussle for NBN business.

Vocus indicated that it would instead concentrate on wireless and mobile services based on 5G, through a deal with Optus.

Both Telstra and Optus said during recent results' announcements that their businesses had been affected by the NBN.

Penn said: "Telstra’s circumstances today are very different from what they were before the NBN. We are no longer the national wholesale provider. That part of our business – the revenue and value – is being transferred to the NBN and that is reflected in our income, profit, and dividends."

And Optus reported EBITDA of $664 million for the second quarter of 2019, a drop of 8.7% from the $727 million for the corresponding quarter a year ago. This was put down to lower payments from NBN Co for customers who migrated to the broadband network.