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THE brawl over the National Broadband Network is becoming more intense.
The opposition is trying to use the estimated cost of the project to attack the government's financial judgment and capacity to deliver on its promises.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is clearly also frustrated by what he insists is a media campaign led by The Australian to discredit the NBN.
But the real problem has always been Labor's determination to fuse the commercial case for the NBN with what it believes are the project's broader economic and social benefits. With the rollout starting, the potential conflicts between those two different positions become ever more apparent, leading to increased and more prominent coverage of the story.
That also includes the difference between the speed available via the fibre network -- at least 100Mbps -- and what speed most households currently want or are willing to pay for.
The powerful lobby Australian Industry Group has thrown its weight behind the National Broadband Network, calling the project an "unprecedented opportunity" for business innovation and placed a premium value on the ubiquitous nature of the fibre roll-out.
An innovation report released by AiG in Canberra today found that while there were concerns among businesses about cost transparency and the fact that it was a Government-led enterprise, the investment “has substantial possibility to generate long-term positive opportunities across many sectors of the economy.”
The report, by AiG's Innovation Review Steering Group, was based on a five month engagement with more than 400 businesses.