Mr Turnbull said technology was only limited by people's imagination, but when asked by Fairfax Media how imagination could be factored into a full cost-benefit analysis and whether governments have a responsibility to implement visionary infrastructure projects, Mr Turnbull said the rollout was too slow. ''I think you can do both, you see. You've got to recognise there is a big issue with the opportunity cost of capital and there's a big issue of time. This is the problem, the NBN is just happening too slowly, it's not just cost, it's the delay. ''You go out to the Coolum Industrial Park [on the Sunshine Coast] and ask them how they feel about waiting five or six years. That park could be empty by then if there's no broadband upgrade.'' Mr Turnbull reiterated a Coalition government would not freeze construction. ''We're going to accelerate the rollout, not freeze it.'' He earlier said the Coalition would prioritise areas that don't have good broadband, and would continue ''as planned to over-build'' the network, meaning provisioning beyond current needs in certain areas.

But he did earlier criticise the NBN Co for ''over-investing'' and increasing the final cost of broadband access to consumers. He cited the case of multi-storey apartment blocks where he said NBN Co insists on rolling out fibre to each apartment when terminating it in the basement and connecting each dwelling via existing copper cabling might be faster and cheaper. Mr Turnbull took a swipe at the Australian media for, in his view, neglecting to research broadband projects by other nations with similar needs to Australia. He said he was aware of how other countries were dealing with the need for broadband access and speed, and how none were creating a monopoly carrier as a result. ''What I find generally staggering is that we're having the discussion about broadband and every country is having this discussion, and no one is doing it the way we're doing it – especially comparable countries are not doing it the way we're doing it.'' When asked if the Coalition would privatise the NBN Co, Mr Turnbull called on his experience as a banker to say he did not believe it was ready. ''I don't see it's in a viable form right now. Privatisation would occur in the future,'' he said, adding the Labor government's ''alleged plan'' was to privatise it.

Mr Turnbull also criticised the government's convoluted R&D funding for start-up businesses and regretted the lack of closer innovation and commercialisation ties between entrepreneurs and universities, but he stopped short of revealing how a Coalition government would address the need to foster innovation. ''As someone who has been involved in some start-ups over the years – some successful, some spectacularly unsuccessful – I'm not convinced the government can pick winners.'' Meanwhile, IT company Acurus has claimed pre-election uncertainty is causing further delays in the NBN rollout to new premises due to receive connections soon. The company's managing director Jason Matser said its customers were told they had to wait until after the Federal election before fibre would be connected their premises. He said Acurus has heard from several clients who have moved into new estates "who can't get decent high-speed internet".

"The issue is the uncertainty that NBN is creating in the industry for the existing telcos and the impact it's having on residential and business consumers. We can't see the situation changing prior to the election this year or for several months after either," Mr Matser said. Follow IT Pro on Twitter The writer attended Kickstart 2013 as a guest of event organisers, Media Connect.