Internet service providers (ISP), mobile telcos, and bidders for the $250 million regional backhaul build have welcomed the launch of the initiative, but questions remain over whether the plan will deliver competition.
Communications and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy will tonight release the government's roadmap for Australia's participation in the digital economy. But what does the nation's industry think of the effort?
Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy officially announced plans to build a 6,900km undersea cable between Guam and Sydney which will become one of the first links in the government's national FTTN network chain.
Experts have warned broadband prices may not be on their way down, despite the opening of a AU$200 million cable link.
A group of Telstra's major rivals known as the G9 have placed full-page advertisements in major newspapers in an effort to prevent a deal between Telstra and the federal government on a new national fibre broadband network.
Without consensus on labour issues, the eventual winner of the NBN may end up as little more than a lame duck and a cashed-up symbol of the conflict between the desire for progress and the lack of mechanisms to deliver it.
For no particular reason that I can discern, a 1979 Kenny Rogers song popped into my head as I was considering the ever more complex morass that is the national broadband network tender which Senator Stephen Conroy defended in his CeBIT keynote speech.
In the year leading up to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's $43 billion National Broadband Network decision, a group of chief executives was quietly working away at winning over important members of federal cabinet to the merits of a digital economy.
Ben Forta: All about Adobe
Take one ColdFusion veteran and mix in a healthy dose of prolific book writing, and chances are you will end u… Watch it now
Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Google's chief sits down for an extremely rare, wide-ranging interview and discusses Google's two operating sy… Watch it now
Telstra shareholders fear break up
What do Telstra shareholders think of the telco's new CEO David Thodey? And would they support the government'… Watch it now
Can not-so-smart meters help the NBN?
Can the Telco Reform Act be win-win?
Has New Zealand's smiling assassin delivered?
What makes you click?
Tell us for a chance to win a $1,000 GAME gift voucher.
Click here for more.
Win an iPhone 3GS!
Sign up as a ZDNet Australia member during November and you'll go in a draw to win an iPhone 3GS!
Click here to sign up!
Best Laptops
Check out the best laptops here!
Click here for more.