When Macquarie Group pulled out last Friday from the tender for the national broadband network, which may now cost as much as $25 billion, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy landed pretty much where he started.

That is: with Telstra as a very serious starter and the Optus-led Terria group in the mix as much to help force regulatory changes in the sector as anything else.

For the complete opinion on the current state of play by AustralianIT coloumist Michael Sainsbury visit AustralianIT