Labor leader Bill Shorten says he will deliver a revamped broadband policy in coming weeks – spurring debate over whether he might be about to ditch Labor’s existing plan to return the National Broadband Network rollout to a full fibre-to-the-premises (FttP) network, as originally envisaged by the former Labor Government.

That plan has been overturned by former comms minister and current PM Malcolm Turnbull, with the alternative cheaper but slower fibre-to-the-node (FttN) technology now being favoured.

It’s understood that the Finance Department has warned of a “negative impact” on the budget if the incoming government implements the FttP model following the July election.

Asked this week if his “first-rate” plan involves a major return to FttP, Shorten said only: “We’ll be announcing our NBN policy in the coming weeks, but it’ll be a good NBN plan. The future of this country relies upon strong regions, connected not only to our cities but to the world.”