Andrew Robb ... deal is not good enough. Today, shadow finance minister Andrew Robb said the Coalition's $6.3 billion broadband policy was already the strongest for rural and regional Australia. It had "a great deal of flexibility built into it". "The Coalition's broadband package as it stands, unlike Labor's, places highest priority on delivering improved services to blackspot areas, including throughout rural and regional Australia," he said. "It will see new competitive fibre backhaul rolled out in those regions which lack it and it will see satellite and wireless services enhanced across the country. In this regard, the fibre backbone, rolled out to all corners of Australia, will be equivalent to that delivered by NBNCo. "Another important component of our package is a competitive grants stream to allow for upgrades of the existing fixed line network to bring services such as ADSL2+ to communities that currently don't have access to it."

However, Mr Abbott yesterday would not rule out improving his broadband policy. ''I don't want to pre-empt the discussions that I expect will be had over the next few days, just to say that I intend to be very pragmatic, but within the broad policy which we discussed during the election.'' Ms Gillard yesterday talked up the NBN, saying it would help bridge the divide between metropolitan and regional Australia. The Coalition's broadband package, which will rely heavily on the private sector, has been criticised by the internet industry and communications experts who argue that Labor's fibre-to-the-home package, while more expensive, will be faster and more future-proof. The Australian Information Industry Association is seeking urgent talks with the independent MPs to urge them not to abandon the NBN, The Australian Financial Review reported today.

Mr Katter, who was returned in the north Queensland seat of Kennedy, has nominated broadband as high on his list of priorities, and is completely against it being privately run. Mr Windsor, from New England, in northern NSW, is of like mind. He came out swinging against the Coalition's "retrograde" plan, saying it would be a disaster to leave it to competition to deliver broadband to country Australia. Mr Windsor said it was time to get on with the National Broadband Network - "the railway of the 21st century". Meanwhile, Mr Oakeshott's passion for broadband can be traced back to his maiden speech. In it, he reflected on students and business in his NSW mid north coast seat battling with dial-up connections. He has welcomed Labor's network and plans for government to be its majority owner. The Australian Greens' new MP for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, supports the NBN and has said he will side with Labor.

Jason Ashton, chief executive officer of wireless operator BigAir, has disagreed with many in the industry and says the Coalition's wireless plan will be sufficient. He says wireless speeds are constantly increasing and will be able to eventually deliver 1Gbps speeds to households, which is what the NBN will reach. "The NBN has the potential to become an expensive white elephant," he said. "We have several fixed networks in this country that cover a large number of households including two HFC [hybrid fibre and coaxial] networks, one copper network and multiple wireless networks - so why would the government overbuild all these existing private networks? It looks like sovereign risk to me." But University of Sydney associate professor Bjorn Landfeldt is sceptical about wireless as a substitute for Labor's fibre-to-the-home plan, saying it would be slower and require thousands of new mobile towers. "If you look at their [BigAir's] web page, they offer residential access using WiMax of 2Mbps, hardly the 100Mbps-1Gbps the NBN will offer," he said.

"Wireless links can be a good complement to fibre at some locations where it is difficult to deploy fixed infrastructure, and this has been to some extent recognised by the NBN plans for rural wireless parts." Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association, said the NBN was necessary because it was faster and easier to expand. He said Australia was now ranked 50th in the world in terms of our average broadband speeds, highlighting the need for fibre-to-the-home. "The initial costs [of the NBN] seem high, but you only have to build it once," he said. "That's why some of the fastest growing economies in the world like Japan, Korea and Hong Kong and Singapore have chosen optical fibre technology for their broadband future – enabling greater competition, choice and innovation in providing broadband services and applications." Coroneos said faster broadband would revolutionise the way we communicate and deliver real-time access to a wide range of health, educational and aged care services.

"It will help us get cars off the road, by enabling more people to work from home; better manage our household power use; open up new ways of doing business and the way we consume music and video offerings," he said. But James Spenceley, chief executive of wholesale ISP Vocus, was not convinced, saying it was a mistake to invest in the NBN without a proper business case. He said existing speeds were good enough. "[Broadband] access for people who don't have it is essential; more speed for the rest of us is a luxury," he said. Loading "Faster internet does not equal a more stable and prosperous future. Today it means faster download of movies and money diverted away from important things like hospitals and actual care for the elderly and sick - not to mention things like town water and power."

- with AAP