The National Broadband Network had its origins in 2006 when the Federal Labor Opposition led by Kim Beazley committed the Australian Labor Party, if elected to government to a 'super-fast' national broadband network. Initial attempts to engage key businesses in Australian telecommunications in planning and development; and implementation and operation failed with NBN Co being set up in 2010 to have carriage of the 'largest infrastructure' project in Australia's history.

Completion of the project is anticipated to be in the early 2020s.

2006–2007 Pre-2007 federal election On 11 August 2005 Sol Trujillo, the newly appointed CEO of Telstra, gave his first presentation, "The Digital Compact & National Broadband Plan: Enabling Regulatory Reform" to both the Howard government and select investors. Australian Securities Exchange continuous disclosure rules forced the presentation to be shared with all investors, published on Telstra & ASX sites. This is one of the earliest uses of "National Broadband Plan", the origin of the $4.7 billion of Government equity to build a 12 Mbit/s FTTN NBN, "94% Rural" and "99% Urban". There were two other proposed options, for 6 Mbit/s for $2.6B and 1.5 Mbit/s for $1.1B. [PDF page 47 of TLS-339, pg 15 of "National Broadband Plan" slides.]

The opposition Labor Party proposed that if elected, it would commence the construction of a 'super fast' national broadband network (NBN). The initial proposal would see fibre to the node (FTTN) technology for 98% of Australian households with a minimum speed of 12 Mbit/s, and the remaining 2% would "have improved broadband services". The network was initially estimated to cost including a government contribution of which would be raised in part by selling the Federal Government's remaining shares in Telstra.

The Howard government's $2 billion broadband plan would see regional areas to get WiMAX wireless and ADSL2+ broadband. At no cost to the tax-payers, the private sector would tender to build a FTTN broadband network in built-up areas capable of delivering internet speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s.

2007 Federal election The Labor Party won the November 2007 federal election, and the Rudd government was sworn into office on 3 December. Soon afterwards, Senator Stephen Conroy announced the newly elected government's commitment to building a national high-speed broadband FTTN network.

2008 Initial Request for Proposal Request for Proposal (RFP) to build the NBN issued, compliant proposals were received from Acacia, Axia NetMedia, Optus on behalf of Terria, TransACT and the Government of Tasmania (covering their respective states only), a non-compliant proposal was received from Telstra and they were excluded from consideration.

There were suggestions that if the project were to go ahead, Telstra's exclusion could lead to them being entitled to compensation estimated at .

Bidders who lodged compliant proposals were neither able to meet the government's requirements nor able to raise the necessary capital during the Great Recession, the RFP was terminated on .

2009 After terminating its initial RFP, the Rudd Government announced it would bypass the existing copper network by constructing a new national network combining fibre to the premises (FTTP), fixed wireless and satellite technologies. The FTTP rollout was planned to reach approximately 93% of premises in Australia by .

For each percentage point of coverage above 93%, FTTP build costs become prohibitive because of a low population density. However, the FTTP footprint could be expanded where users or communities were willing to pay the incremental costs of installing FTTP.

The FTTP rollout was to gradually replace the copper network then owned by Telstra and used for most telephone and data services. As part of an agreement with NBN Co, Telstra was to move its customers to the NBN, and lease space in its telephone exchanges and access to its extensive network ducting.

Tasmania was selected for a trial deployment based on the Tasmanian Government's submission to the RFP.

At the same time, the federal government threatened to force a structural separation of Telstra.

Initial expected cost and payback The Rudd Government estimated to the capital expenditure of the project initially to be . NBN Co later revised down the cost in its business plan to . The project was to be financed by a combination of a Federal Government investment of and private investment for the remainder.

NBN Co intends to begin paying dividends back to the Federal Government in 2021, and to have fully repaid the Government's contribution by 2034. NBN Co's business plan forecasts a return on investment of 7.1%, expecting to turnover revenue of by 2021.

NBN Co set up NBN Co was established on . Mike Quigley was appointed chief executive officer on .

2010 An implementation study was commissioned in and released on by the Rudd Government. McKinsey & Company and KPMG concluded the NBN can be implemented and made 84 recommendations in the study, including expanding the fibre footprint to 93 per cent from the original 90 per cent.

NBN Co Request for tender (RFT) (April 2010) In April 2010, NBN Co began a tender for the major FTTP rollout. Fourteen vendors submitted a proposal; however, NBN Co suspended the process on , as the prices were 'unacceptably high'.

Abbott and Turnbull rejection of NBN (July–October 2010) Tony Abbott, as Leader of the Opposition, and Malcolm Turnbull, as Shadow Minister for Communications, indicated in 2010 that they would 'demolish' the NBN.Emma Rodgers, (14 September 2010), Abbott orders Turnbull to demolish NBN, ABC News. Retrieved 12 February 2017AAP, (14 September 2010), Turnbull back to 'demolish' NBN, Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 July 2010 They argued that the demand for such a service was not significant,Statements by Abbott and Turnbull on the need for broadband: Turnbull stated that 12 Mbit/s would adequately address the need. See Tim Lohman,(28 October 2010), 12Mbps enough for all applications: Turnbull, Computerworld and Rodney Gedda, (29 October 2010), Never say 'that's enough' for any (NBN) application, Techworld Australia Abbott argued a national LTE network could meet the need, with a tower on every street corner. See Stilgherrian, (16 August 2010), Coalition broadband: a wireless tower in every street, Crikey and Barrie Cassidy, (15 August 2010), Abbott defends Coalition's broadband plan, Insiders, ABC TV and thus the estimated cost was too high and the timeline for implementation too long.

First customers (July 2010) The first customers connected in .

2010 election (21 August 2010) 3 days before the election, at the 2010 Charles Todd Memorial OrationMike Quigley, CEO NBN Co, (18 August 2010), 2010 Charles Todd Memorial Oration presentation slides, NBN Co of the Australian Computer Society, Mike Quigley attacked the Coalition broadband proposals in breach of the Caretaker conventionsRenai LeMay, (18 August 2010), Quigley openly slams Coalition’s broadband policy, Delimiter

2010 Australian federal election with the election of the minority Gillard government led to priority being given to regional and rural areas. Also an increase in the peak speed to one gigabit per second was announced in response to Google Fiber

Business plan (20 December 2010) NBN Co released its business plan on , including forecasts and network design.

Changes to the Business plan included an increase in the peak speed to one gigabit per second, in response to Google Fiber and giving 'priority' to regional and rural areas during the rollout following the events after the 2010 election. It has been argued that the early sites chosen for the NBN were selected due to political reasons.

Trial rollout in Tasmania (2010)

Tasmania was selected as the first state to begin the rollout of the NBN, based on the Tasmanian Government's 'shovel ready' submission to the RFP for the original NBN. A new company, NBN Tasmania (previously Tasmania NBN Co), was formed on to build the NBN in Tasmania. The company was planned to be a joint-venture between NBN Co, Aurora Energy and the Tasmanian Government. The Tasmanian Government also floated an idea to invest in Aurora Energy to get access to its fibre network; however, the joint-venture and deal were both cancelled on when the negotiations reached an impasse. Although the joint-venture was cancelled, Aurora Energy still plays a role in the construction of the NBN in Tasmania.

The trial rollout in Tasmania comprises three stages. Stage one was announced in with the first customers being connected a year later. Stage one included connections to premises in Smithton, Scottsdale and Midway Point and construction of fibre 'backbones' from Port Latta to Smithton, Cambridge to Midway Point, Midway Point to Triabunna, George Town to Scottsdale and Scottsdale to St Helens. On completion of stage one, 4,000 premises were offered fibre installation; 51 agreed to be 'NBN Ready' (at no cost), but only 10.9% actually took up the service. As of , 712 premises had an active service and 11 premises were awaiting service activation by a retail service provider (RSP).

The Tasmanian Parliament passed opt-out legislation on , to allow NBN Co to install fibre connections to premises unless the property owners explicitly decline the installation. The fibre connection is free, however, if the installation is declined and a connection is ordered at a later date, NBN Co may charge a connection fee. The bill passed the Tasmanian lower house with the support of all members.

During his second reading speech, Premier of Tasmania David Bartlett said the take-up rates were 'a good early result'; however, he said it was 'important to increase the participation rate'. In his closing remarks, Bartlett said '[the] NBN in Tasmania is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create jobs and contribute to a new economic direction'. In her second reading speech on behalf of the Tasmanian Opposition, Elise Archer said 'the NBN is an important infrastructure', but that 'the State Liberals have some concern that the NBN business model seems to rely more and more on eliminating competition and other technologies'.

Stages two and three were announced on and , respectively. Approximately 11,150 premises in Sorell, Deloraine, George Town, St Helens, Triabunna, Kingston Beach and South Hobart were included in stage two. Stage three includes approximately 90,000 premises in Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie. Stage two will include a trial of expanding the FTTP footprint to areas not included in the initial rollout. The trial will allow individuals and councils to pay the incremental cost of a fibre connection over fixed wireless in order to receive a fibre connection from NBN Co. The costs will include provisioning further space in exchanges and rolling out additional fibre optic cables.

At the time of launch, the access prices for RSPs were temporarily set at a flat rate of A$300 per premises with no ongoing monthly charges. Mike Quigley said one of the reasons for the flat rate is the OSS and BSS systems was not built to make the process automatic. He continued if NBN Co charged a monthly charge without the systems, it would have been a 'very manually intensive process' and not a 'sensible proposition'. However, RSPs did charge a monthly fee to customers, to cover the cost of the trial.

Of the first 4000 residences in Hobart, only 10.9% have actually taken up a service. However, as part of the agreement with Telstra is to decommission the existing copper network as the NBN becomes available, this is not considered as representative of the ultimate NBN adoption by customers.

2011 National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011 (28 March 2011)