According to Abbott, speeds of up to 100 megabits were already "potentially available" to "almost every" major business and hospital, to most schools, and through high speed cable already running past nearly a third of Australian households.

"The smart way to improve broadband is not to junk the existing network but to make the most of it," he said. "It's to let a competitive market deliver the speeds that people need at an affordable price with government improving infrastructure in the areas where market competition won't deliver it."

Abbott also reiterated Coalition calls for a cost benefit analysis of the national infrastructure project and that costs could escalate to $50 billion. He said current NBN funding would be better spent on transport and health infrastructure.

"That $50 billion could fully fund the construction of the Brisbane rail loop, for instance, the duplication of the Pacific Highway, the Melbourne to Brisbane inland rail link, the extension of the M4 to Strathfield, and 20 major new teaching hospitals as well as the $6 billion that the Coalition has proposed to spend on better broadband," he said.