The national broadband network will finally be able to provide high-speed broadband to nearly all Australians now that it doesn’t have to recoup all its upgrade costs, but it may have to choose between doing that and staying ahead of fast-emerging 5G and satellite services, a former NBN executive says.

The announcement last week that the NBN no longer needs to recoup $31.5 billion in rollout and maintenance costs frees it up to invest in super-fast fibre-to-the-home technology that will help it stay ahead of the speeds offered by wireless technology, said the former executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is no longer authorised to speak for the company.