Federal Labor is signalling it could support NBN Co slashing the value of the national broadband network in a potential multibillion-dollar commonwealth budget write-down that would boost telco retailers such as Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom and pave the way for cheaper internet prices..

Opposition communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland told The Australian Financial Review in an interview that, if elected in May, a Labor government would fix the ailing economics of the NBN and give future broadband users access to faster and more reliable fibre technology instead of outdated copper cables.