Comms Minister Says Broadband is Too Expensive

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has certainly been chatty lately. The Australian (which has really been on top of the broadband issue) is reporting today that the minister has come out and admitted that broadband in Australia is too expensive and revealed that a Senate inquity into the issue will be held later this year. He also recognised that Australia is one of the few countries in which ISPs meter broadband usage.

While this may all sound like it comes from the Department of Duh!, it’s actually nice to know that government is aware of these issues and thinking about them, which is rather more than could be said of the previous Coalition government.

Labor has even opened up the development of the FTTN to public commentary, as reported by our own Angus Kidman in APC — although weirdly they’re only accepting written comments and not online submissions. I guess that they want to winnow out the more hysterical online forum attendees. [The Australian and APC]