Future of Telstra up in the air

Australian Prime Minister John Howard remains non-committal on whether his government's remaining stake in Telstra should be sold off, or be placed into the Future Fund, news agency AAP reported today.

The Future Fund option and other alternatives would be the subject of cabinet deliberation this week, he said today, although there was no doubt privatisation would go ahead.

Mr Howard declined to comment directly on the option of the Future Fund, which is planned to meet future commonwealth liabilities.

"That is an option that is around and I'm not going to answer that," he told ABC radio.

"We certainly wish to go ahead with the sale. Just when, of course, is another matter.

"There are a range of options that can be followed.

"We are going to talk about it this week.

"I'm naturally concerned about the value of the shares in the hands of those who bought some years ago.

"Ultimately, that of course is going to be determined by the performance of the company and the assessment the market makes of the company's management and the company's performance."

Mr Howard acknowledged there was some criticism of the company by some backbenchers, but they were not coming to him with their complaints.

"There's some criticism of the company - that's obvious - but they're not banging on my door and saying they don't want a sale," he said.

The timing and nature of the sale was something that had to be addressed, Mr Howard said.

"But the question of whether we go ahead with the privatisation, that was resolved when parliament gave the government the authority to do so," AAP reported him as saying.