ONLY about one in 10 of the first Australians to be offered high-speed internet services under the National Broadband Network have taken up the offer.

The federal government yesterday confirmed the take-up rate in the first three Tasmanian towns to receive the NBN was less than 11 per cent, arguing it was evidence the $43 billion program was on track.

However, the Coalition said the take-up rate was "appallingly low" and that revelations that only 262 premises so far had active connections suggested the rollout was "farcical".

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The government has not revealed how many of the NBN users are passing up the full 100-megabits-per-second internet speed, on offer at about $100 a month, in favour of slower speeds on cheaper packages costing $30 or $60 a month.

The release of the first figures came as the West Australian Liberal government last night demanded "greater value for money, greater leverage of private sector investment and a more flexible technological approach" to the NBN.

"The Western Australian government is concerned about the sluggish take-up rates during the NBN test phase in Tasmania," Commerce Minister Bill Marmion said.

A stoush also looms between the federal and NSW governments over the NBN rollout.

NSW is staring down threats by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to use federal powers to force people on to the NBN if the states and territories do not mandate connections.

In a bid to improve on the lacklustre broadband take-up rates, the Tasmanian government has switched to an "opt-out" model that automatically connects homes and businesses unless they actively refuse.

After reports that Senator Conroy had said the government would consider mandating it through federal parliament, NSW Commerce Minister Paul Lynch maintained that NSW "has no plans to legislate an opt-out model for National Broadband Network connection".

"We are continuing to work with the commonwealth and other jurisdictions about rollout of the NBN," Mr Lynch said.

Constitutional law expert George Williams sounded a note of caution over Senator Conroy's threat to use federal law, saying the government might face demands for compensation after such a move.

"The problem for them is that at the federal level if there's any acquisition of property involved, they would need to provide just terms as a consequence," Professor Williams said, adding that detail on Senator Conroy's threat was scant.

On Wednesday night, Senator Conroy used ABC's Lateline to launch an attack on The Australian, incorrectly saying the paper had "continued to perpetrate" the "myth" that the NBN would impose a $6000 cost on homes.

Senator Conroy told the program it was a "furphy" that people would lose their fixed phones.

He said no final decision had been made on whether charges would be imposed to connect households to the NBN that had initially not consented to be connected and then later changed their minds.

And he signalled there would be no charge for households when the copper network was decommissioned and it became mandatory to use fibre to make telephone calls.

The business case for the project prepared by NBN Co is due to go to the group's board today.

Despite Senator Conroy's assurances, consumer groups yesterday urged an end to the confusion over the impact on consumers from the rollout.

"For the individual ordinary consumer, what they need to know about is how this is going to impact on them," said the head of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Teresa Corbin. She called for "a really clear statement about costs for the individual consumer".

The Coalition told The Australian it would seek to hold NBN Co in contempt of federal parliament if it continued to fail to reveal the cost of the rollout in Tasmania and the money spent so far.

Under questioning in Senate budget estimates yesterday, NBN Co revealed there had been 561 orders for services to 436 premises in the three Tasmanian towns reached by the network so far.

"This represents a nearly 11 per cent take-up rate so far," Senator Conroy said, adding that this was in line with the NBN implementation study that a take-up rate of 6-12 per cent a year was needed for the project to be viable.

However, of the 436 premises, only 262 so far had active connections - a figure the Coalition said represented only 5 per cent of households across the three towns - Smithton, Scottsdale, and Midway Point.

The Coalition spokesman on scrutiny of government, Guy Barnett, said this was "a joke" and that, worse, the government and NBN Co were refusing to divulge how much had been spent to achieve such a modest outcome.

"This confirms that they don't have a business plan and when they say it's 'on time and on budget', it's entirely meaningless and nonsensical," Senator Barnett said.

The Coalition used Senate budget estimates hearings to demand NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley reveal the number of homes made NBN-ready, the cost of the rollout so far, and the total cost of the Tasmanian rollout.

However, Senator Barnett said none of these questions had been answered and were instead taken "on notice", giving the company six weeks to respond.

"They are obfuscating in the extreme and if they continue to obfuscate and defy Senate requests, then this can be taken up further in the Senate," he said.

NBN Co spokeswoman Rhonda Griffin said the company would provide answers to all questions taken on notice.

Additional reporting: Mitchell Bingemann, Imre Salusinszky



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