At the CommsDay Summit in regional Australia Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull dropped a bombshell – higher than expected demand and insufficient mobile spectrum means that an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 premises would not be able receive access to the NBN. Money can fix any problem, of course, but the government is already throwing a lot of money at providing coverage to the last 7 percent of the population.

So, something clearly has to change. This week on CrossTalk we look at some of the alternatives, including turning the switch from fixed to mobile on NBNCo’s wireless base stations – something that would satisfy Vodafone’s group strategy director Dan Lloyd. But isn’t there an option to extend VDSL coverage to more parts of the country, something that Malcolm Turnbull spoke about on Crosstalk a year ago.

You’ll also hear from Gilbert & Tobin’s Cameron Whitfield and Ovum’s David Kennedy on the program.