The new national broadband network (NBN) will make working life more flexible but many people still don't know what the network is all about, its chief executive says.
NBN Co head Mike Quigley appeared before a federal parliamentary inquiry in Sydney where he was questioned about the nine-year project to build the network.
He said the network would save money in the long run, improve the country's productivity and cited the use of teleconferencing in his own office as an example.
"We now have in our facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra - high definition ... video conferencing which means large bandwidth that saves us getting on planes," he said.
"We also expect more of our people (to) telework from home - that will keep people off the roads, which means less money needs to go into normal infrastructure."
Mr Quigley said video conferencing was an overwhelming driver behind demand for more bandwidth.
"I would say that the world is simply becoming more video oriented," he told the parliamentary committee travelling the country getting views about the NBN and its role and potential.
"It's not just about entertainment, it's about video conferencing, it's about medical imaging, it's about remote education."
NBN Co's $36 billion mission is to reach 93 per cent of Australian homes.
Mr Quigley said there was still a common misconception that NBN would be an internet service provider, when in fact it would be a wholesale company.
"There's still a lot of people in the community who assume we are going to be the replacement for a retail service provider," he said.
"We've certainly learned that we need to increase our efforts in that communication."
Australian Telecommunications Users Group managing director Rosemary Sinclair told the inquiry that she supported the policy but NBN Co needed to do more to engage with the community.
"We'd like to see NBN company itself much more directly engaged with users," Ms Sinclair said.
"We definitely understand the distinction between retail and wholesale but we think that this is such a big policy and a program, it's important that all Australians understand what the change means and are in a position to be able to support the policy and be interested in the services when they're available."
The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communication was sitting at NSW Parliament House in Sydney on Friday.
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