"We are competing at a different level of the market, just in the retail space and not competition in infrastructure or wholesale," he said. "... For us, the NBN is a huge opportunity to compete without buying wholesale from competitors like Optus and Telstra."

There are currently less than 10 people employed by Ausbbs and Appel wants to keep staff levels low as part of the cost-cutting strategy.

So far, less than 100 people have registered interest in signing up with Ausbbs for a three-month trial commencing in August. But the company's CEO stressed it has kept under the radar for the most part and expects additional expressions of interests as it garners more publicity.

The goal for Ausbbs is to eventually become a top 10 ISP in Australia.

"As a small low-cost operator, we expect to have a small but substantial stake in the market," Appel said.