The Government's new option emerged as the Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, urged Telstra investors who have been vocal in their objections to the plans to ''look at the total picture''.

A decision by the Coalition partyroom on Tuesday to oppose the bill unless a series of drastic series of amendments were agreed to was undermined by Senator Joyce yesterday when he indicated he was open to supporting the bill to force Telstra to split its retail and wholesale arms.

''I've always believed that structural separation was the preferable place to be,'' Senator Joyce told BusinessDay.

He said his key concern was the impact of the changes on regional Australia, a point he would make when he meets with the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy.

But the Government might need to wait until early next year to get its way after Senator Joyce said he supported Opposition calls for a delay and noted that ''duress is never a very convincing argument''.

Despite the possibility of receiving support from the Nationals, Senator Conroy has maintained his push to woo Greens and independent senators Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding, holding separate meetings with them today and tomorrow.

The Government will need the support of all seven crossbench senators to pass the bill, but if it fails to win one over, then Senator Joyce's vote could prove crucial.

Speaking to journalists yesterday, Senator Conroy indicated he had little interest in accepting the amendments proposed by the Coalition.

Speaking in question time, Mr Tanner told smaller Telstra shareholders not to accept the argument from fund managers that the reforms are bad for the company.

''What the Government's plans entail … is a giant leap into a new telecommunications area with government-underwritten infrastructure that will be hugely beneficial to telecommunications providers. And who is the biggest telecommunications provider in Australia? Telstra.''

The Government yesterday announced seven new regional locations across Tasmania that will receive superfast optical fibre connections under the second stage of the broadband rollout in the state.