Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Unlike Labor's unfunded and unrealistic option, the coalition is embracing a multitechnology mix. The NBN is one of many companies in the world rolling out the multitechnology mix. In Germany, Deutsche Telekom has recently announced an expansion of its fibre-to-the-node network to cover 80 per cent of its fixed-line footprint by 2018. There have also been mass deployments by BT Openreach in the UK, AT&T in the US and many others covering millions of homes.

Because the NBN is now technology-agnostic it means that under the coalition the NBN will be completed in five years time by finding the most practical technology to connect the NBN with Australians sooner and at less cost. We cannot afford to leave large numbers of Australians behind as we seek to accelerate the nation's productivity and global competitiveness in an age of digital disruption.