My comment to this post. Posting here because The Australian is fairly anti-NBN and has rejected pro-NBN comments in the past.
What is the matter with overhead cables anyway? My street has above ground power, cable and phone. Overhead NBN would reduce the lowest thick cables to a single thinner cable (eventually). I very much doubt they’ll string up cable where there is NO existing overhead infrastructure. Places with underground power, phone, etc would have ducting where it would actually be easier for underground fibre installation! Stop causing panic where there is none.
Of course I’d like everything to be undergrounded but not if it means it takes 20 years to do the roll-out or costs significantly more. Put the power under there too. Might as well get natural gas installed too.