Touting a much-reduced cost of under $36 billion from the original $40 billion plus estimates, the federal government hails the national broadband network initiative as workable and reasonable as per the NBN plan unveiled on Monday.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard called the project as both viable and affordable as he stressed that federal investments on its establishment would be returned with interests and since he targeted uniform wholesale prices are poised to be achieved, Australian end-users should be able to enjoy good retail price.

Calling the federal project as the "telecommunications development of our century," Ms Gillard said that the NBN would bring about economic benefits for all Australians though the whole country needs to wait at least a decade more for its full implementation.

The NBN plan, according to the federal government, has incorporated the majority recommendations of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in expanding the project's interconnection points and ensuring the enforcement of uniform wholesale price, which the government hopes would also lead to uniform retail prices.

If that is not achieved by the natural force of the market, the ACCC is empowered to come in to the picture and exercise its regulatory powers in the telecommunication industry to encourage the eventual prevalence of uniform pricing for both the wholesale and retail segment of the sector.

Also, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy gave assurance that the NBN would be able to deliver affordable costs that all Australians could enjoy as he pointed out that "NBN Co will offer a range of wholesale pricing options, providing retailers with maximum flexibility to tailor their services to customers."

Ultimately, Ms Gillard asserted that it is the market force that would determine the NBN's retail pricing as she expressed confidence that while lacking on cost-benefit analysis, the newly-released business plan effectively proved that the project is financially feasible.

Conroy added that the billion-dollar investments on NBN would result to multi-pronged benefits on economic sectors and social services, where health services would become more efficient and people would be allowed to perform job tasks at the comfort of their homes, possibly resulting to more economic gains.

However, NBN Co has admitted that pitting the retail costs of NBN plans against existing offerings by Australian telco providers could prove difficult at this time, with chief executive Mike Quigley pointing out that in comparing the plan, "you really have to look across all of the different factors that go into them and not just look at the one headline number you see on the back of a bus."