But Senator Conroy's shadow, Bruce Billson, doesn't share Brook's optimism.

"At 12 Mbps for $4.7 billion taxpayer money and at least that again in private investment, it is a big spend for speed improvements that will be barely discernable for millions of Australians while hundreds of thousands of broadband users in under-serviced areas in regional, rural and remote Australia wonder when they might get a look in after the Rudd Government's cancellation of OPEL.

"The approach should be supporting access and choice for the broadband consumer's "three R's" - the right speeds, at the right price, with the reliability that is required and can be counted on," Billson said.

According to Senator Conroy's Request For Proposal the new services that will be offered on the NBN that are a match for existing services shouldn't be priced higher than current access costs.

"But how well that is adhered to and what that means for the services that are offered that do take advantage of the extra performance the new network can provide, and what the pricing for that will be, is really an economic product argument rather than a technology argument," Brooks said.

Senator Conory's gag order on NBN bidders prevents Telstra, Optus/Terria or TransACT from discussing the proposed speeds of their respective NBN bids.