There are conflicting signals from the Coalition on its broadband policy as it courts the clutch of country independents who will decide which of the major parties will form a minority government.

Broadband was seen as the major difference between the parties during the election campaign and, with a hung parliament, it will now be a key factor in negotiations between the independents and Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. Both Labor and the Coalition need their support to seize power.

Former National Party members turned independents Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter have all nominated broadband as a key concern. They have supported Labor's $43 billion National Broadband Network, which will deliver speeds of at least 100 megabits per second to 93 per cent of the population. Their regional electorates now rely on creaky dial-up connections and sub-par communications services.

The Liberals will dump the NBN and have proposed a more modest plan that will deliver baseline speeds of 12 megabits per second to 97 per cent of the population. Unlike the NBN, the infrastructure will be privately owned and will rely on a mix of existing ageing infrastructure and wireless.

Today, shadow finance minister Andrew Robb said the Coalition's $6.3 billion broadband policy was already the strongest for rural and regional Australia. It had "a great deal of flexibility built into it".

"The Coalition's broadband package as it stands, unlike Labor's, places highest priority on delivering improved services to blackspot areas, including throughout rural and regional Australia," he said.

"It will see new competitive fibre backhaul rolled out in those regions which lack it and it will see satellite and wireless services enhanced across the country. In this regard, the fibre backbone, rolled out to all corners of Australia, will be equivalent to that delivered by NBNCo.

"Another important component of our package is a competitive grants stream to allow for upgrades of the existing fixed line network to bring services such as ADSL2+ to communities that currently don't have access to it."

However, Mr Abbott yesterday would not rule out improving his broadband policy.

''I don't want to pre-empt the discussions that I expect will be had over the next few days, just to say that I intend to be very pragmatic, but within the broad policy which we discussed during the election.''

Ms Gillard yesterday talked up the NBN, saying it would help bridge the divide between metropolitan and regional Australia.

The Coalition's broadband package, which will rely heavily on the private sector, has been criticised by the internet industry and communications experts who argue that Labor's fibre-to-the-home package, while more expensive, will be faster and more future-proof.

The Australian Information Industry Association is seeking urgent talks with the independent MPs to urge them not to abandon the NBN, The Australian Financial Review reported today.

Mr Katter, who was returned in the north Queensland seat of Kennedy, has nominated broadband as high on his list of priorities, and is completely against it being privately run.

Mr Windsor, from New England, in northern NSW, is of like mind. He came out swinging against the Coalition's "retrograde" plan, saying it would be a disaster to leave it to competition to deliver broadband to country Australia.

Mr Windsor said it was time to get on with the National Broadband Network - "the railway of the 21st century".

Meanwhile, Mr Oakeshott's passion for broadband can be traced back to his maiden speech. In it, he reflected on students and business in his NSW mid north coast seat battling with dial-up connections. He has welcomed Labor's network and plans for government to be its majority owner.

The Australian Greens' new MP for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, supports the NBN and has said he will side with Labor.

Jason Ashton, chief executive officer of wireless operator BigAir, has disagreed with many in the industry and says the Coalition's wireless plan will be sufficient. He says wireless speeds are constantly increasing and will be able to eventually deliver 1Gbps speeds to households, which is what the NBN will reach.

"The NBN has the potential to become an expensive white elephant," he said.

"We have several fixed networks in this country that cover a large number of households including two HFC [hybrid fibre and coaxial] networks, one copper network and multiple wireless networks - so why would the government overbuild all these existing private networks? It looks like sovereign risk to me."

But University of Sydney associate professor Bjorn Landfeldt is sceptical about wireless as a substitute for Labor's fibre-to-the-home plan, saying it would be slower and require thousands of new mobile towers.

"If you look at their [BigAir's] web page, they offer residential access using WiMax of 2Mbps, hardly the 100Mbps-1Gbps the NBN will offer," he said.

"Wireless links can be a good complement to fibre at some locations where it is difficult to deploy fixed infrastructure, and this has been to some extent recognised by the NBN plans for rural wireless parts."

Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association, said the NBN was necessary