Austar, Soul Pty Ltd. and Unwired Australia Pty. Ltd. announced last week the formation of AUSalliance which is seeking funding under the Connect Australia program. The alliance will develop a coordinated business plan as part of its bid for funding while each company continues to build, own and operate its own network and business separately.

Weir said if the alliance was successful in gaining funding, it would offer an economically viable way of getting broadband rolled out to wider Australia via a combination of wireless, DSL2+ and fiber-based solutions.

Weir believes the government's funding proposal will have a positive impact on the telecommunications market.

"If the government funds us or another alternative network provider, they will actually get double the bang for their buck, because wherever we go Telstra will follow, and Telstra will innovate because it has a much broader requirement to protect its revenues. So everyone will be better off," she said.

"In particular, wholesale is not a dirty word; from our point of view wholesale is a great word, because we're building the networks and we want to fill them up. We don't have a monopoly that we want to protect. We're all new businesses," she said.