THE Coalition has defended new cut-back mapping for Tasmania's National Broadband Network, citing ``transparency'' as a key mover for the decision.
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A wash of uncertainty for would-be fibre-to-the-premises NBN users was yesterday flooding online forums as Liberal maps were launched on www.nbnco.com.au.
The change sparked criticism from peak body Digital Tasmania, which claimed that FTTP plans ``had been scrapped'' in areas where construction had not started.
The latest information comes pending a full report on the Coalition's scheme from NBNCo chairman Ziggy Switkowski, anticipated for December 2.
Liberal promises from then-internet spokesman Malcolm Turnbull mid-August flagged the party's intention to ``honour existing contracts''.
On his website, new Communications Minister Turnbull said the new maps showed only areas where work had begun - providing ``greater certainty about when the network will be active and when they can expect to order their services''.
Digital Tasmania spokesman Andrew Connor said the new maps seemed to represent ditched plans from the party.
``It appears that NBN build plans have been scrapped in areas where work had already started to evaluate and prepare underground assets,'' Mr Connor said.
``This means that much in-field remediation and desktop planning will go to waste.
``Given that NBN work in Tasmania has already been fully contracted, any change now would only slow down the rollout and establish a clear digital divide between neighbouring streets and suburbs, which will in turn affect house prices.''
Bass Liberal MHR Andrew Nikolic said comments from Mr Connor were part of a ``misinformation campaign'' against the Coalition plan.
``I imagine that the Switkowski review will provide information that informs how we might proceed after December 2 in areas where clearly construction hasn't started,'' Mr Nikolic said.
He denied claims that people may have voted for Liberal in the belief that state NBN rollout would be left untouched.
``Absolutely not, what we have said we will do, we will do,'' Mr Nikolic said.
``Part of rolling out the NBN to all Australians, which we have promised, is understanding the huge mess Labor has left us when rolling out the NBN - would we want to start our process here? The answer is `no'.''
Mr Nikolic said his Riverside home would not benefit from a fibre-to-the-premises NBN connection.
Information about areas removed from the NBN Co maps can be found at http://tinyurl.com/qhvlcts
