There is speculation that the Federal Government could take advantage of the disarray within the Opposition to introduce legislation defining the network's shape and addressing the future of Telstra.

It seems certain that any legislation would pass the House of Representatives and that the Opposition would then refer it to a Senate committee, potentially taking the process into the new year.

While it is uncertain how the legislation would be packaged, there are two distinct issues to be addressed.

The first is the broad shape of the network, including the access regime, pricing methods, ownership restrictions applied to private sector investors, the role of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and arrangements for the Government's proposed sale of the network five years after its completion.

Although submissions on these issues were only made public two weeks ago, they were received six weeks ago and were broadly in agreement over the need for the NBN and for it to be a wholesale-only network.

The other is the regulatory measures the Government will impose on Telstra in an effort to increase competition before the network roll-out.

It is expected that the Government will force functional separation on the telecommunications giant and also beef up the powers of the ACCC to fix prices Telstra's competitors pay to access its network.

The Government will probably force Telstra to give up its 50 per cent stake in Foxtel or its high-speed cable network.

Despite the likelihood of Telstra being subjected to the measures, analysts have become more optimistic about Telstra's prospects in the reconfigured telecommunications landscape.

Credit Suisse analyst Sandra McCullagh said late last week that the most effective way for the Government to roll out the NBN would be to strike a deal with Telstra to migrate the company's customers onto the new Government-controlled network.