This is because contracts for a wireless network, designed by the Optus-Elders consortium, which was backed by the previous government were signed off prior to the November federal election.
The OPEL network is expected to reach completion by June 2009 and was supposed to be linked to Labor's own national FttN network.
Based on Telstra's 2005 proposal, the FttN network has been fully estimated at A$8 billion (US$6.6 billion) of government and private funds and will be rolled out over five years.
But Telstra has formally rejected plans to link both newtorks which leaves the government's broadband strategy under a cloud of doubt.