The national broadband network will come at much too high a cost.

THE opposition is doing the government a favour by blocking the legislation that will allow Telstra to be broken up - misleadingly called the Communications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2009.

The legislation's intent is to force households and businesses that rely on the copper network to take the service from the $43 billion national broadband network.

Why? The cost to telephone users will be at least double that of their existing service. Users who want a high-cost, high-speed broadband network can get it now. Telstra (and others) already supply such a service.

Large businesses, government departments and utilities, research institutes, universities and even schools have access to high-speed broadband on fibre because they can make productive use of this technology.