Yes you can look after rural areas for less than 43b but it was NOT done. Can't start pretending to look after them now. You will get your money back with NBN so don't stress. Stress over the 9 Billion nappy bonus and the 6.5 billion slated to be given to private enterprise to do what they should have done anyway. They didn't because there was no buck in it for them.
Not all eggs are in one basket, there are 3 methods of delivery under the NBN, optic fibre, wireless and satellite.