In a press conference this morning, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said it would spend A$43 billion (US$31 billion) to create a new wholesale-only fibre optic network across Australia. The government-majority owned National Broadband Network Corporation will work in partnership with the private sector over the next 7-8 years to build the network across regional and capital cities.

The network will provide access of up to 100Mbps to end users and cover over 90 percent of the nation.

Prime Minister Rudd said it then planned to sell-off its stake in the operations within five years of it being established. The decision represented a historic moment in Australia's history, and was the largest infrastructure project ever laid out, he said.

"This injects a new player into the broadband market... a national, wholesale, open access broadband network," he said. "It sets up a path for economic recovery and building a 21st century economy withy 21st century jobs."

Rudd claimed the network would provide 25,000 jobs every year during the lifetime of the project, and up to 37,000 jobs during its peak. It will also add A$37 billion to GDP, he said.