Australia's third-largest mobile provider Vodafone is pushing for the government to release a large swathe of unused 5G spectrum it says could lower the cost of 5G services, in a move that sets them on a collision course with the national broadband network.

Vodafone said the NBN, which has exclusive access to this unused band, is not using a large portion of it, and that there is no justification for preventing other telcos from accessing it for their own 5G networks.