Global telecommunication firm Vodafone Group is welcome to the idea of a national broadband network in Australia as the company reportedly prodded the federal government early this week to continue on with the project's full implementation.

A report by the Australian Financial Review said that the world's biggest mobile firm is supportive of the $37.5 billion NBN project and Vodafone's Australian executives already met with Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to formally express the telco's keen interest in the realisation of the controversial federal initiative.

According to the report, Vodafone, which currently holds a 50-percent ownership of Vodafone Hutchison Australia, has pledged that it would raise its investment in the Australian telecommunication industry once the NBN has been fully rolled out.

Analysts said that the latest Vodafone move could be largely motivated by fresh opportunities on the country's telco industry which are expected to crop up once the NBN has been fully operational.

Specifically, the report said that Vodafone could be looking into the possibility of exploring the market of fixed-line broadband offerings and get the chance of colliding head on with Foxtel, which is a major player in providing premium broadband services in the country such as online television programs.

Analysts also speculated that by supporting Australia's NBN program, Vodafone would be in the forefront of an ambitious project that if proven to be a success in the long run, could open up the heavily regulated telecommunication markets in Europe where the company is also hoping to pour significant investments in the future.

Vodafone's European plan is still on hold, according to the report, as company chief executive Vittorio Colao is still wary of monopolies currently prevailing in Europe's telecommunications industry.

Australia's NBN project could prove to be a major game changer in the global telco industry and its eventual success, according to analysts, could pave the way for telecommunication market openings across the world.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is currently waiting for the recommendations set to be released soon by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on the NBN project as industry experts offered that the competition watchdog could give weight on telco companies' arguments that the existing NBN business plans would put to waste the country's in-placed yet still efficient telecommunications infrastructure.

Ms Gillard has hinted in the past that her government would seriously consider and possibly heed the bulk of ACCC's thoughts on the NBN project during the course of its actual implementation.