Canberra's north-south divide will become even more marked if the government presses ahead with its election pledge to axe the fibre-to-the-premises national broadband network model.
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While thousands of homes in northern suburbs such as Macgregor, Ngunnawal, Amaroo, Palmerston, Gungahlin, Franklin, Harrison, Watson and Mitchell have already been connected, the south is lagging far behind.
The future of the network hangs in the balance with all but one member of the board of NBN Co offering to resign on the grounds the Abbott government has no confidence in them. Those resignations could be considered as early as next week.
It was being widely reported on Monday that former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski was likely to be appointed NBN Co chairman, to replace Siobhan McKenna.
Canberra, meanwhile, is stuck betwixt and between, with the quality of future broadband access likely to be determined by whether you live in the north or the south.
Work has not even begun on NBN infrastructure for the suburbs of Barton, Forrest, Griffith, Kingston, Narrabundah, Parkes, Red Hill, Symonston, Chapman, Chifley, Curtin, Deakin, Duffy, Fisher, Garran, Holder, Hughes, Lyons, Phillip, Rivett, Stirling, Waramanga, Weston, Yarralumla, Banks, Bonython, Calwell, Chisholm, Conder, Fadden, Gilmore, Gordon, Gowrie, Greenway, Isabella Plains, Macarthur, Monash, Richardson and Theodore.
Residents fear that when the work, in most cases scheduled to begin in 2014, does get under way they will receive only the Coalition's inferior ''fibre to the node''. ''It will be like having a fast car that runs out of petrol just before it gets to your house,'' Fairfax Media was told.
NBN Co has already begun works under the fibre-to-the-premises model in Belconnen, Aranda, Casey, Ngunnawal, Turner, Braddon, Civic, Campbell, Ainslie and Reid.
As of Monday that work was continuing. ''The current program of work continues until such time as we're told otherwise,'' an NBN Co spokesperson said.
The quality of service in the south is, however, still shrouded in mystery.
''We await guidance from the government as to how any new policy would impact the design and delivery of the NBN.''
ACT federal Labor MPs Senator Kate Lundy and Andrew Leigh, the member for Fraser, said the broadband future for the new suburbs of Moncrieff, Throsby, Taylor and Kenny now looked bleak.
''The great strength of the NBN was that it did close the digital divide and now the Coalition government has ripped that digital divide wide open once again,'' they said in a joint statement.
About 15,000 homes and businesses in the city's north had access to the network a month before the election. The take-up rate was running at about 40 per cent, the highest in Australia.
If the broadband installations in progress are completed according to plan, another 29,000 homes and businesses in Civic, Aranda, Belconnen and Queanbeyan will have fibre-to-the-premises access by 2015-16.
Opposition leadership candidate Bill Shorten accused Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull of ''effectively undermining confidence'' in NBN Co's board. He said planned reviews of NBN Co would likely be used ''to go after the NBN''.
