Bush NBN focus gets rebel group's tick

A chief member in the Alliance for Affordable Broadband, which shattered industry consensus on broadband by aiming harsh criticism at Labor's $43 billion National Broadband Network, has backed the scheme's regional priority roll-out schedule.

Bevan Slattery (Credit: Delimiter)

Yesterday, Labor secured the requisite number of seats to form a minority government. Independent MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott highlighted securing high-speed broadband as an important deciding factor.

The government will ensure its National Broadband Network will have uniform wholesale prices across the country, while regional Australia also will be given priority as the network rolls out, newly re-elected Prime Minister Julia Gillard said yesterday in a press conference.

Group member and Pipe Networks founder Bevan Slattery said "good things" had come from the negotiations between the Labor Party and independents in securing the requite votes.

"It will build from the outside-in; we don't want people in regional remote rural missing out and that was fairly positive result," Slattery said.

"But we still don't know what is happening with NBN right now. We will have to wait."

Slattery said the group will lobby its broadband ideals to a Gillard government, noting that it had "issues" with the broadband policies of both the Coalition and Labor parties.

The group initially trashed the $43 billion NBN and backed a privately-run wireless network worth some $3 billion reminiscent of coalition policy.

Slattery said previously that most major global telcos are decreasing their investments in fibre in favour of 4G wireless technologies.

"As easy as it is to say that wireless is no substitute for fibre, you can simply turn that around and say that fibre is no substitute for wireless — and this is coming from a fibre guy," he said.