LABOR'S national broadband network will provide speeds of one gigabit per second, 10 times faster than originally thought.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy revealed the news while accompanying Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the campaign trail in Tasmania, where NBN Co is rolling out the $43 billion network.
NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley announced the turbo-charged capacity today, following consultations with broadband retailers.
The gigabit broadband speeds would benefit businesses who required greater bandwidth for video conferencing, he said.
The announcement was made in Tasmania where the communities of Midway Point, Scottsdale and Smithton are the first to have access to fibre to the premise on the NBN.
Senator Conroy said if the coalition won the election those communities would lose the fast internet they presently enjoyed because of the rollout.
"We are rapidly entering a new and dramatic phase of growth in demand,'' Senator Conroy said.
"NBN Co will provide speeds ... on its fibre product of one gigabit per second.''
That was 10 times the speed originally envisaged by the government.
Senator Conroy said the faster speed showed fibre technology was ``truly about future-proofing'' the nation.
Ms Gillard said the super-fast broadband was the economic infrastructure the Australian economy and businesses need for the future.
Residents in the Tasmanian towns with access to the fibre are paying introductory prices from $29.95 a month for 25 megabits a second to $59.95 a month for 100 megabits a second through three internet providers, she said.
Ms Gillard said as a girl she learned to type on an old Olivetti manual typewriter and it would have been foolish to say that was good enough.
"If we say what we've got now is basically good enough, we are actually condemning Australia to that kind of frozen-in-time attitude,'' Ms Gillard said.
"Imagine missing out on all of the possibilities of the future.''
Labor has slammed the coalition's broadband plan - which will rely on a patchwork of technologies - as one for a "second-rate'' network that would hold Australians back.
But federal opposition frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull said the government's planned national broadband network would never provide a good return for the money spent on it.
"We do not need to spend $43 billion of taxpayers' money to build a colossal white elephant that simply cannot ever generate a return that will warrant the investment'' Mr Turnbull told ABC radio this morning.
"If the government were to build this fibre-to-the-home network for $43 billion - it will probably cost more than that - it will end up with an asset that is worth a fraction of that amount''.
Although he admitted that broadband was "a great blessing and becoming more and more available all the time'', he said not everyone was in favour of the highest speeds.
"The fact is, that most people nowadays who are offered a range of broadband speeds, for example by Telstra, do not choose to take the higher speed,'' he said.
"So the notion that everybody, every household, wants to have a 100 megabits a second (Mbs) broadband is simply not borne out by the facts''.
The coalition announced earlier this week it would provide 97 per cent of households with faster broadband through a patchwork of technologies through a $6.3 billion private sector model.
It said its plan would guarantee minimum broadband speeds of 12 Megabits per second (Mbps) for 97 per cent of households.
NSW Rural Affairs Minister Steve Whan lashed out at the coalition's plan, claiming it would deny regional communities high speed broadband.
Labor's $43 billion national broadband network relies on fast fibre optic technology for all but the most remote locations.
Mr Whan said 1000 country towns across Australia would be denied fibre optic infrastructure and therefore the fastest internet connections under the coalition's plan.
"Regional centres deserve fibre optic laid out so that they can compete in business and deliver 21st century education and health opportunities,'' he said in a statement.
"This policy disadvantages people in rural and regional areas, who deserve long term, high speed broadband infrastructure.''
