Apple founder: 'I don't have broadband'

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has stunned a business forum in Perth with a personal admission that no one saw coming.

Answering a question on Australia's $36 billion national broadband network (NBN), the American computer wizard and engineer let it be known he didn't have broadband internet at his home in Los Gatos, California.

"I don't have broadband at my home," Mr Wozniak said, to much surprise in the audience.

"I, Steve Wozniak, don't have broadband at my home."

Mr Wozniak told a wry tale about a clash of second-class infrastructure and new-age technology.

"I live one kilometre out of the main part of town," he explained. "Broadband is a monopoly in my town - that means you can get it from a cable company, but I don't have cable.

"There are 50 companies that want to sell me DSL, but they've all got to go through the Horizon wires - the local phone company - and I've got one of the two worst Horizons in the country.

"And so I can't get broadband in my house."

While Mr Wozniak did not comment on the politics of Australia's NBN, he did say wireless networks were more economical than fibre-optic networks for remote areas.

"This country is quite spread out, with a lot of remote places," he said.

"I think in remote places, a lot of times a good answer economically is wireless."

Federal Communications Minister Steven Conroy said Mr Wozniak's comments backed the government's controversial decision to build the NBN.

"Mr Wozniak's situation is exactly why the Gillard government ended Telstra's copper network monopoly, providing real retail competition," the minister told AAP.

"The NBN will provide all Australians with fast, affordable broadband, either through fibre to the home, fixed wireless, or satellite technology."