“NBN Co has been advising communities within second release sites that both the Telstra deal and the ACCC decision on points of interconnect are now being factored into the timing of future rollouts,” the company said.

The ACCC’s decision to increase the points of interconnect from 14 to 121 would also have to be factored into the timing of construction and it could contribute to delays to services following construction,NBN Co said.

“NBN Co is committed to work in the second release sites, but the above could affect the time between construction and the availability of services, depending on a number of issues that are still being worked through.”

The second release sites are strewn all across the nation and the network builder had previously indicated that construction in these areas was scheduled for the second quarter of 2011.

“A definitive agreement between Telstra and NBN Co will be good for Telstra, good for NBN Co and good for the country,” said NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley. “It is therefore worthwhile taking the time to get the right outcome. A deal will lead to less disruption for the community, and reduce our rollout costs. It is better for the community and better for taxpayers.”

Telstra said at its half yearly results in February that the two companies had agreed on provisional commercial terms and marked down 1 July as the target date for a shareholder vote on the deal. It has now admitted the date will have to be pushed back and has not specified a new one.

“There are statutory timeframes required for the necessary ministerial, ACCC and Telstra extraordinary general meeting processes, which means there is a minimum timeframe from the time the agreements are finalised to when a shareholder vote can occur,” Telstra said in a statement to the ASX.

“Given this, we have now reached the point where a 1 July meeting is no longer practicable. The company is currently looking at options for an alternative meeting date, including taking into account the full year results announcement requirements, and will advise shareholders once it is in a position to set the date of the meeting.”

Despite the setback Telstra reiterated that NBN negotiations “continue to progress well, with all parties working together to agree and document the various detailed arrangements required.”

NBN Co will be hoping to finalise the definitive agreements as quickly as possible in order to gain access to the Telstra ducts, pits and conduits and drive down its rollout costs. Even with the agreements inked, the transaction needs to receive the tick of approval from the competition watchdog, which could take up to three months.