Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the business plan for the national broadband network (NBN) proves that it will be both viable and affordable.

The federal government released the long-awaited business plan on Monday, which has been with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy since early November.

Ms Gillard said the plan confirms the NBN will be delivered at a smaller cost than originally thought.

It will also be profitable, meaning taxpayers' investment in the NBN "will be returned with interest", while uniform wholesale prices will also be achieved.

"Those prices will be affordable for consumers," she told reporters in Canberra.

Ms Gillard said the plan proved the NBN would deliver major benefits for Australia, lauding it as the "telecommunications development of our century".

Some 1.7 million homes, businesses and schools are expected to be connected by June 2013.

Building the network will take nine and a half years with a rollout peak of 5900 premises a day during construction.

Ms Gillard said when parliament last sat the government released a summary of the business case.

She said since that time the government had received the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) advice on the points of interconnect (POI) decision and that was incorporated in the business case released today.

A POI is the location where traffic is exchanged between one network and another.

Ms Gillard said the government accepted that advice to adopt a semi-distributed model, to use existing infrastructure and to have more point of interconnect to allow business access to the NBN around the country.

"The ACCC has advised the government that with this model, the ACCC has the regulatory powers it needs to ensure a uniform wholesale price should the market not deliver that," she said.

Ms Gillard said the ACCC had advised the government that it expected there would be uniform retail prices.

She said the business case showed the impacts of the POI and other policy changes in a revised rate of return of 7.04 per cent, a relatively minor variation.

"That is because with this semi-distributed model and the benefits of the ACCC advice, we know that we will be in a position to have a uniform wholesale price with all of the uptake in regional Australia that flows from the benefit of uniform wholesale pricing," she said.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says the network will "deliver affordable prices to all Australians", with the basic wholesale packages from $24 a month.

"NBN co will offer a range of wholesale pricing options, providing retailers with maximum flexibility to tailor their services to customers," he said.

The ACCC will use its new pricing powers to monitor competition.

"To address any failure in these markets to deliver competitive outcomes, particularly in regional areas."

Battery backup would also be provided to ensure telephone services can be used during a blackout, Senator Conroy said.

Ms Gillard said retail prices for the NBN would be set by the market.

"The more competition you have the better pricing consumers will have - golden rule of markets of all kinds. It's a golden rule in telecommunications," she said.

"The way in which the NBN is being rolled out, the uniform wholesale price will obviously facilitate competition between retail providers who'll be vying for business with competitive prices.

"The business plan shows that ... NBN has factored in wholesale prices coming down over time in real and in nominal terms."

Ms Gillard again defended the lack of a cost-benefit analysis, saying the business plan all but proved the network was financially sound.

"There's been any amount of discussion in this building about a cost-benefit analysis," she said.

"But what this document is telling you today is the NBN is viable with a viable rate of return as a proposition in its own right.

"That's before you go to all of the economic benefits for business."

Senator Conroy rejected the suggestion that the billion-dollar outlay could have been better spent on areas such as health and education, or roads and infrastructure.

"It is about spending money on hospitals," he said.

"If you look at what Hong Kong has just completed on their e-health, the e-health benefits, it is already saving lives."

Schools will also get a boost, while traffic congestion will be reduced by allowing people to work and operate from home, Senator Conroy said.

NBN chief executive Mike Quigley said it was very difficult to compare actual cost of the NBN plans compared to existing plans using older technology.

The business plan cites a cost between $53-58 per month for a 12 megabit plan with a 50 gigabytes download limit.

Mr Quigley said that took into account all the factors a retailer would base their price on, based on what NBN would charge wholesale and factoring in other expected costs.

He said in the case of a voice-only service, there was an arrangement in the deal with Telstra to ensure prices would not rise.

"These plans are quite difficult to compare. You really have to look across all of the different factors that go into them and not just look at the one headline number you see on the back of a bus," he said

oh, judas says her nbn is viable ........... even though every industry expert has said otherwise.

oh, judas says her nbn is viable ........... even though every industry expert has said otherwise.

hah, what a crock of trash.

the alp are masturbating over a fantasy of a 70% takeup.
in tassie, it was about 5%.

The rural hamlets of Smithton and Scottsdale are beset by local manufacturing closures. Midway Point is a windblown working class dormitory suburb. Of course initial take-up will be low.

At last count little more than one in 10 households actually had a paid operating service.

Who in these places is likely to tear up their existing Telstra contract just to splash out on higher speed broadband?

In the first three towns, every household had to agree to have a free hook-up on their walls. But Bartlett's new "opt-out" law means NBN Co. will go ahead and put the fibre on the wall unless people say no.

This was first of all the state Liberals' idea, and should be no big deal. Like standardised electricity and water, optic fibre will be treated as a normal part of a well-serviced 21st century community. Eventually it will replace copper.

A trenchant luddite can just refuse to take it, and use a mobile phone, or pigeon post.

I live in a small country town and they are putting optic fibre in from one of the local school now.

Will the local National Party member or the local Liberal party senator take credit for it.