10:00 AM -- Australia's plan to build a A$43 billion (US$39 billion) national, open, high-speed broadband network could be shelved if the current Liberal-National opposition party wins the country's general election on August 21, reports Reuters.

The Liberal-National alliance favors a much more conservative A$6.3 billion (US$5.7 billion) network rollout that wouldn't include incumbent operator Telstra Corp. Ltd. (ASX: TLS; NZK: TLS)'s network, which is included in the current National Broadband Network (NBN) plan. (See Telstra Bags $10B Broadband Deal and Australia Unveils $31B FTTP Plan.)

If the current plan, which is already underway, were axed, it would spell bad news for Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), which was recently awarded a significant GPON deal by NBN Co., the company heading up the rollout. (See AlcaLu Lands GPON Role in Australia's NBN, NBN Awards FTTH Construction Deals, Melbourne to Host NBN NOC, NBN NOC Opens in Tasmania, IBM Lands NBN Deal, Report Endorses NBN Vision, and Australia Breaks Ground on Broadband.)

Shrinking the NBN would also spell bad news for Australia, which could do with a national, truly high-speed, open network to foster communications services competition and make the country a more attractive location for business development.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading