The 2009 launch was the “envy of the world”, says Matthew Howett, principal analyst at research company Assembly, with other countries taking their own incumbent players to task for not matching the ambition of the Australians.

“While the type of navel-gazing we’ve seen in Australia recently usually uncovers some important lessons, the truth is infrastructure deployments at scale have always been complicated, expensive and rarely without setback. If broadband could be rolled out using reports, inquiries and investigations, the UK would probably have the fastest broadband in the world by now,” says Matt Howett, principal analyst with Assembly.