Positive earnings seen from Telstra broadband unit

MELBOURNE: Telstra Corp Ltd, Australia's dominant telecommunications carrier, said yesterday its broadband arm expects to achieve positive operating earnings in 2003/04 for the first time as its subscriber base doubled. 

Criticised for high pricing and unreliable high-speed Internet connections, which have slowed the take-up of broadband in Australia, Telstra said it had no plan to cut its broadband prices and was fixing problems on its network.