"Never quite understand the argument that the government should...

"Never quite understand the argument that the government should provide fibre to my doorstep."

I forgot to answer this Bob. The answer is -- because no one else wanted to build a nation-wide network.

Remember that the government asked Telstra to build a fibre network. They asked for a proposal. Telstra replied with 3 page document. They couldn't even be bothered creating a proposal.

Why was Telstra so lazy? They were happy to continue charging through the nose for ADSL. They were happy to keep charging businesses $25,000 a month for a fibre connection. That was making them a lot of money.

They were happy to roll out more fibre in the cities, but not in any regional areas. They didn't want the expense or hassle.

The government wanted a nation wide network that provided economic opportunity to all Australians. Telstra didn't want to build that. So that's how we got the NBN.