David Thodey of Telstra, Paul O'Sullivan of Optus, Inaki Berroeta of Vodafone and David Buckingham of iiNet are among a number of prominent leaders to have put their name to the letter. Former Telstra chief executive David Thodey shifted the company's focus from engineering to service. Credit:Jason McManus "Our request to you is, we believe, relatively simple and reasonable," the telco chief's letter states. "It is that the government provide to industry, the parliament and the wider community a degree of certainty as to the size of the government's planned contribution (and the planned methodology for apportioning those funds between [telcos] of different types and market shares) in advance of the bill being debated and potentially passed into law." It goes on to warn that any costs not absorbed by government will have to "be absorbed by [telcos] or passed on to Australian telecommunications users". A secret Liberal Party briefing paper obtained and made public by Fairfax Media last October warned that industry would complain about the costs and say that if not compensated it would result in an "internet tax" being passed on to consumers.

But the paper did not tell Liberal Party members how it planned to tackle the concerns. Optus chairman Paul O'Sullivan has also signed the letter. Credit:Glenn Hunt Internet provider iiNet has said costs could go up by as much as $10 a month as a result of the scheme. Consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was commissioned late last year to come up with a cost estimate, said the scheme would cost anywhere between $188.8 million and $319.1 million just to set up. Vodafone Australia chief Inaki Berroeta co-signed the letter as well. Credit:Michele Mossop

But industry has previously estimated that upfront capital costs could be much higher. In September, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull told parliament the government expected to make a "substantial contribution to both the cost of implementation and the operation" of the scheme. Industry is deeply concerned that the government appears to want to push the data retention legislation into law before it clarifies what its promised contribution will be to the costs of the scheme John Stanton, chief executive of the Communications Alliance But since then, the government has softened its language from "substantial" contribution to "reasonable contribution". It's understood the telco chief executives are writing to the ministers this week as a matter of urgency because the legislation that will make data retention law, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014, is expected to be debated in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, where it is expected to pass with the government having a majority in the House.

The legislation could stumble, however, when it reaches the Senate, where the Greens and a number of other crossbenchers are understood to oppose it. A separate coalition of chief executives from Australian media organisations will front a parliamentary inquiry on Friday, where they are expected to demand protections for journalists in the data retention bill. John Stanton, chief executive of the Communications Alliance, the industry body representing telcos in their negotiations with government on the scheme, said a number of concerns remained. "Industry is deeply concerned that the government appears to want to push the data retention legislation into law before it clarifies what its promised contribution will be to the costs of the scheme," Mr Stanton told Fairfax Media. "Parliament should not be asked to buy a pig in a poke and [should] ensure that the government does provide some clarity on the cost issue..."

The letter comes as Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wrote to Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Sunday saying that Labor reserved the right to put forward amendments to the data retention legislation that would protect journalists' sources. Mr Shorten was referring to the fact the Australian Federal Police and other agencies can trawl through any journalists' metadata, including their phone calls and emails, to uncover without a warrant who they have been speaking to. Several Australian journalists have been subjected to this. It also comes as Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam called on the Attorney-General to release the latest Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act annual report, which contains the number of times Australian law-enforcement agencies have authorised access to the metadata of Australian citizens. The last annual report showed government agencies authorised access to private telecommunications and internet data 330,640 times during criminal and financial investigations in 2012–13 — an 11 per cent increase in a year and a jump of 31 per cent over two years. A separate report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority showed more than half a million "disclosures" were made in the same period.