The issue with the NBN Co Ltd and its Conroy/Rudd beer coaster business plan has always been pretty simple.

It's the cost and practicality of trashing servicable infrastructure, and replacing it with new civil works (ie trenches) and new cables to every house, business and government premises in the country.   And all at taxpayer expense and all whether you need it - or can use it - or not.

Rudd/Conroy picked a single technology based on their inexpert understanding of one of the world's fastest moving technology areas.    So we have as a nation mandated fibre optic cable to every home at taxpayer expense.   Much of it will never, ever be used - people are choosing mobile phones and mobile broadband.

Put to one side the waste, the fibre that will never ever be used.

Put to one side the fact that the world and the most popular applications are going mobile.

Put to one side the wasted infrastructure, still usable, but ripped up because of the Conroy/Rudd beer coaster.

Having committed all of us to borrowing $50BN to build the NBN, the biggest issue today is NBN Company's abject inability to get the construction job done.

The NBN Company's costs have to be met.   Salaries, rents, IT etc etc.  Those costs tick over every month.   The NBN Company misses target after target after target.

There will always be announcements about new transmission technologies that can do faster, better, greater things over fibre.   It's the same with wireless technologies.

But none of that changes the fact that the NBN is being built here in Australia out the front of 10,000,000 houses in pits and trenches that look like this

And so on the day that Mike Quigley will face a parliamentary committee, here's what the SMH runs today on behalf of the Gillard Government.

Australians linked to the national broadband network will be able to get  world-leading internet download speeds of one gigabit per second by the end of  this year, the company building the network  will announce on Friday.

While some countries such as Japan are moving even further ahead with 2Gbps  connections, Australia's coming 1Gbps capability is the same speed as Google's  cutting edge fibre network in several US cities.

An entire movie could be pulled down in several seconds using the service,  which is about 100 times faster than the average speeds offered by ADSL  connections. But most people would not see the true benefit of 1Gbps for another  10 years, when households would have multiple rooms streaming super high  definition video from the internet, according to Professor Rod Tucker, director  of the institute for a broadband-enabled society at the University of  Melbourne.

"The average person who does regular internet activities is probably not  going to notice much difference today,'' Professor Tucker said. ''Where I think  it will make a difference is in small businesses.''

Independent telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said right now only about 5  per cent of people, mainly small businesses, would be able to make use of the  increased speed.

The wholesale price for the 1Gbps service will be $150 a month, though  retailers will add a margin to this. NBN Co will also launch two other high  speed services - 250Mbps and 500 Mbps - by December.

NBN Co's announcement comes as the company's chief executive, Mike Quigley,  prepares to spend Friday being interrogated by a parliamentary committee over  roll-out delays. It is understood he will refute claims by the Coalition that  NBN Co prices will increase.

Sharp words are likely to be exchanged at the day-long hearings between Mr  Quigley and Malcolm Turnbull, the opposition's communications spokesman. Mr  Turnbull has said on many occasions he believes Mr Quigley is unqualified to run  the company building the NBN and he would sack him.

And Mr Quigley said he believes Labor's more expensive "fibre to the  premises" technology is better than the Coalition's cheaper, slower alternative  which relies on decaying copper telephone lines.

Internet Industry Association chief executive Peter Lee questioned whether  the announcement of 1Gbps speeds was a "political ploy" by Mr Quigley to  increase pressure on the Coalition.

"To be rolling out 1Gbps to everybody when they are so far behind their  corporate plan targets you would question the methodology or the thinking behind  it," Mr Lee said.

The chairman of the parliamentary committee overseeing the NBN, Robert  Oakeshott, said he would use the committee hearings to scrutinise the  Coalition's broadband policy.

''Now there is bipartisan commitment to complete the NBN, all policy  suggestions on how to reach completion are fair game for the oversight  committee,'' Mr Oakeshott said.

Thank God for a government with the vision to bring high definition video to multiple rooms in our houses, whether we're home or not.