Coalition Communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has brought attention to research from the UN that calls for a competitive and market-based approach for high-speed broadband development.

The UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development recommended "a market-led approach facilitated by an enabling policy environment" for the promotion and deployment of broadband networks. The study also urges for a "technology neutral" mix of fibre, wireless and other technologies for the broadband development.

The report also showed that "it is unlikely that any single technology will be able to provide all the answers." While the report finds fibre networks "desirable at the core of the Internet and for the majority of backhaul traffic", it says that "at the edges of the network and in particular in the hands of end-users, it is most likely that mobile devices will deliver many applications and services".

"There is a role for a host of different technological solutions in providing broadband access - from cable to fixed wireless; from satellite to microwave; from xDSL to mobile technologies; and many more. Policy-makers should seek to adopt a technology-neutral approach as regulation needs to accommodate new upgrades of current technologies, as well as future technologies which do not yet exist," said the report.

Hamadoun Toure, the vice chairman of the UN Commission, described the NBN project as "one of the world's most ambitious broadband build out programs." In an interview with the Fairfax press, Toure says that many countries are looking at how Australia rolls out the technology to remote communities.

Turnbull said that the Coalition does not dispute the importance of broadband. In a statement, he said, "the issue here is simply this: is the construction of a $43 billion NBN, without any business plan or cost benefit analysis, a responsible investment by Government?"