NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue has defended the network’s wholesale pricing proposal, which the competition regulator rejected this week, saying it is in the industry’s “best interest that NBN is suitably funded and resourced”.

In a speech to a telecommunications conference in Sydney, Mr Rue said the proposal – known as the Special Access Undertaking – was an “iterative process” after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sent his team back to the drawing board for the second time in less than 12 months.