Mr Turnbull said the Coalition now believes "all Australians should have access to fast and affordable broadband but that the NBN [Co] has gone about that objective in the single most expensive and time-consuming way possible." Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde says the Coalition now accepts the NBN is necessary but differs in its funding model. Mr Turnbull believes the private sector, not the Government, should finance the project. "Malcolm Turnbull and [Liberal MP] Paul Fletcher very well understand broadband. Both are among the best informed in Australia. Unfortunately politics comes in the way and it's been a major stumbling block,' Budde said. "Malcolm Turnbull is keeping his powder dry – he is not going to do anything until much closer to the election. My guess is then they'll come up with a policy that will show the importance of broadband to the economy." Mr Budde said a cost-benefit analysis of the network– which the Opposition always said was missing from Labor's blueprint – should be now be included.

Mr Turnbull had told the communications industry in April the Coalition's policy was to achieve "a comparable outcome – a ubiquitous very fast broadband network, but sooner in terms of rollout, cheaper and more affordably to consumers. But had not yet committed to keeping whatever infrastructure and contracted installations it could potentially inherit." He told Radio 2UE earlier this month a Liberal-National government would "complete" the job, rather than rip up any cables. And now he said he is not prepared to cancel the contracts underpinning the rollout, already signed by NBN Co, at an estimated cost of $1.8 billion. "The Coalition's aim is not to cancel contracts but rather, renegotiate existing contracts where possible to accommodate different architectures and lower the capital cost of the network and hence, the end cost to consumers," Mr Turnbull said. He told IT Pro "a range of architectures" would include fibre-to-the-premises for homes and businesses in greenfield areas; fibre-to-the-node where possible and HFC. HFC, or hybrid fibre coaxial, is used for networks that employ both fibre optic and copper cables, usually to deliver cable television. Fibre optics are used for the backbone up to nodes, then copper cables from the nodes to the premises.

Telstra's existing copper network is to be decommissioned as part of the NBN rollout, although the company has not yet revealed what it will do with the actual cables. Mr Budde said it was "useless" for Mr Turnbull to talk about fibre-to-the-node and copper without a policy that stated why the Opposition thinks Australia needs the network, including its economic benefit. "The objective has to come first, then leave it to the experts to say how they are going to do it." Mr Budde said the idea of utilising existing technologies like HFC was valid, but in reality the cable television network was rolled out a decade ago and has not been upgraded, meaning its future relevance is limited. "Optus and Telstra did not see that potential going forward; the utilities don't believe copper HFC has a life beyond about eight years and investors are not prepared to invest in that technology.

"Why would you do it? And what are you going to do at the end of that time. In the US the cable network has been upgraded since the day it was built. More than 50 per cent of the population is connected to it. It's a different scenario." Mr Turnbull said the Coalition would take "an agnostic approach to which technology is used" and would ensure that "poorly served areas are prioritised, upgrades can be delivered on schedule and won't result in a doubling of consumer bills over the next decade". Mr Budde said the Coalition must stop scare-mongering in relation to costs. "We have now 40 ISPs with NBN products on the market for as low as $25 a month. How are consumers worst off? The average is more like $29 for a basic NBN [connected] product. That is very comparable with ADSL packages that are around now." Mr Budde said while the Opposition now appeared accepting of the NBN, it must guarantee it will not further delay its implementation. The Joint Standing Committee's third report on the NBN released this week said the rollout had already been delayed and criticised NBN Co for not providing a benchmark by which it could be accurately measured at each review stage.

Loading "Over the next 10 years, NBN will deliver $50 billion to the economy. We can look at a $10 billion economic loss if we have a delay of two to three years," Budde said. Follow IT Pro on Twitter