In an article by Andrew Colley of AustralianIT, the Optus led consortium Terria says it is close to announcing a financial partner to back its bid for the Rudd Government's national broadband project.

Terria had been in discussion with three potential financial backers, but with the defection of Macquaire Bank to the Telstra camp, they are now left with only two choices.

Telstra hasn't been making it any easier for Terria to find financial backers, with chairman Donald McGauchie now claiming its going to cost around $25b to build the network. Seems a moving target with Telstra, but I am sure its giving any potential investor a nervous twitch.