THE NEWS WRAP: Telstra set to renegotiate $11 billion NBN agreement

Telstra is set to renegotiate its $11 billion National Broadband Network agreement following the Coalition’s election victory over the weekend.

The Coalition’s fibre-to-the-node plan will see Telstra’s existing copper retained for the “final mile” between a neighbourhood pillar and their homes, rather than giving customers a direct connection to the fibre optic cable as Labor’s version proposed.

“The new government has committed that they will seek to renegotiate our NBN agreements… We will look to help facilitate this quickly with a view to minimise uncertainty,” Telstra chief executive David Thodey said.

“While any negotiation takes place, our priority will remain focused on meeting our existing commitments and winning customers on the NBN where it is available.”

IKEA hopes to assemble $1 billion in local sales

Swedish furniture giant IKEA is looking at doubling its Australian east coast store base in a bid to hit $1 billion in revenue.

Currently, the flat-pack furniture giant has five stores in the eastern states, but is looking to expand that to four in Sydney, four in Melbourne and three in Brisbane, potentially along with additional stores in Canberra or on the NSW Central Coast.

The retail giant’s Australian revenues in the year to August 2012 stood at $649.97 million, up from $523.7 million a year earlier, with the company hoping the additional stores will boost that figure above $1 billion.

“Self-driving” Mercedes Benz by 2020

German auto giant Daimler, parent company of luxury car maker Mercedes Benz, has predicted it will have a “self-driving” production car available within 10 years.

“We want to be the first to launch autonomous functions in production vehicles. You can be sure: We will accomplish that in this decade,” Daimler head of development Thomas Weber said.

“Autonomous driving will not come overnight, but will be realised in stages.”

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down to 14922.5. The Aussie dollar is up to US 92.03 cents.