Shareholders voted today at the telco's annual general meeting (AGM), in Sydney, where 99.09 per cent of proxy votes gave the deal the go-ahead. This was enough to approve the lucrative agreement. The total count is expected to be available by the day.

The agreement involves Telstra progressively decommissioning its copper network and migrating customers onto the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Independent expert, Grant Samuel, concluded the deal is "approximately $4.7 billion greater than under the best available alternative". Telstra's board unanimously recommended shareholders to approve the deal as it would provide the telco with a better financial outcome as well as regulatory stability.

Telstra stressed if the company rejected the deal and refused to structurally separate, which is a crucial part of the agreement, it would have to compete with a formidable NBN Co and be locked out of accessing new spectrum for developing wireless broadband services.

The telco was required to submit a structural separation undertaking (SSU) committing itself to separating its retail and wholesale arms. The ACCC had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the document.