Ward said that in his view, the New Zealand public should not be encouraging uptake in the government's broadband plans, but rather base any decision to join a government-funded broadband project based on its cost effectiveness.

"My personal opinion, having worked in business and government, is that why would I want to listen to someone from government tell me to take up a new infrastructure?" he said.

"Surely as a business person, as an industry, I would want to see what my peers and competitors are doing and take that up myself."