Criticism of the National Broadband Network has become desperately unhinged, with the Coalition comparing the project to Cuba.

Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said Malcolm Turnbull had "entered the twilight zone" by dubbing the NBN ‘the telecommunications version of Cuba'.

The Australian Greens welcome the landmark agreements struck between NBN Co and Telstra, and NBN Co and Optus, announced today, while rejecting "fatal half-measures" proposed by the Coalition.

Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said the agreements were a long time coming and marked a significant step forward for telecommunications in Australia.

The Australian Greens welcomed the announcements today that NBN Co has settled on a fixed wireless network partner and sealed a construction deal to roll out the National Broadband Network for a mid-2012 service start.

"This process obviously wasn't as smooth as it could have been, but we're pleased to see the tenders awarded at last," Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said today.

The Australian Greens have reached agreement with the Government on the composition, timing and terms of reference for a new Joint Committee dedicated to overseeing the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

"We have spent the summer negotiating broader terms of reference, removing the proposed Government majority on the committee and ensuring that it gets to work right away, rather than waiting until July before getting started," Australian Greens spokesperson on communications, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said today.

The Australian Greens have secured an agreement with the Government to subject the NBN Co to freedom of information laws.

Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam negotiated amendments to NBN Co's governance arrangements after raising concerns about the multi-billion dollar public company being exempt from the transparency rules.

The Australian Greens will take action in the Senate to make the National Broadband Network Company subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Greens spokesperson for communications Senator Scott Ludlam said that it was unacceptable that a public enterprise investing approximately $27.5 billion of tax-payer's money would be exempt from the Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation.

The Australian Greens have welcomed the release of the NBN corporate plan today and will carefully analyse the documents to ensure the plan adds up to a good deal for Australians.

Greens communications spokesperson, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said it was disappointing that the Government had not released the plan sooner.

Senator Ludlam expresses frustration at the Opposition filibustering instead of debating the amendments in the Tesltra separation legislation on what was supposed to be the last day of Parliament.

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (5.11 pm)-I was expecting some contributions from the National Party, but they do not appear to be in the chamber. I will, however, rise to make some comments on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2010. This debate has been a very long time coming. Senators will recall that it was originally scheduled for October 2009. A series of procedural blocking tactics by the coalition prevented this debate from happening more than a year ago.