The upgrade will provide the fastest broadband services Australia has ever seen, at a blistering 30 megabits per second.

The upgrade applies to 'commercial metropolitan areas It will be done so without any taxpayer funding.

"Most importantly, it will be done without winding back competition and consumer regulatory safeguards,” Senator Coonan said.

“Telstra’s cable broadband network will provide speeds nearly three times faster than Labor’s $4.7 billion fibre-to-the-node plan."

Senator Coonan said a mix of technologies is always the best solution, especially for the widely variable conditions in a country the size of Australia.

Australia will now have multiple high speed broadband networks including cable, WiMAX, ADSL2+ and, following the completion of the competitive assessment process, another high speed broadband network, likely to be fibre.

SOURCE: Breaking national news from Rural Press weekly agricultural papers, updated daily on FarmOnline.