SYDNEY (WiMAX Day). Australian telcoms giant Telstra has begun proceedings in the Australian Federal Court against the Australian Communications Minister Helen Coonan. The suit surrounds the recent award of an AU$1 billion WiMAX project to the Opel, a joint venture between Australian companies Optus and Elders.

Telstra has contested the award because the original tender documents stated the project was for AU$600 million. The suit alleges that when Telstra requested information about the project’s tender selection process, Senator Coonan refused to provide Telstra with access to documents.

A Telstra spokesman told reporters: “We tendered for a certain job and then we find out that it is not just AU$600m available — we were never informed the money would be increased… We want some clarification. If the goalposts are moved, everyone should be informed.”

Senator Coonan responded to the accusations of Telstra saying “The fact that no-one can hide from is that Telstra put in a bid for funding; it was independently assessed and then soundly beaten by a superior bid from Opel…. This is just a case of an ordinary bid being blown out of the water by an outstanding bid and the loser not happy with the umpires decision.”

In addition to the claims of Telstra, other telcom operators in Australia are equally unhappy with the tender award, WiMAX operator Unwired amongst them. That Unwired and its partner Austar, the largest WiMAX spectrum owners in Australia, would win the tender seemed to be the general census before the tender.

Since the award was announced, these companies also have cried foul against the communications ministry for what they claim is Opel’s technical inability to perform on the project which aims to connect the provide broadband connectivity throughout Australia.