Fairfax pushes better broadband 

Fairfax Media boss David Kirk says he will urge the federal government to help give rural and regional Australians better access to broadband.

Fairfax recently announced it will splurge $2.8 billion on the rural and regional publisher Rural Press, and then move to create individual websites for a large proportion of 170 regional newspapers owned by the company.

Fairfax sees the revenue growth potential in classifieds and advertising dollars outside the major cities, but is concerned that many rural Australians don't have access to broadband.

Rural Press chief executive Brian McCarthy recently said there was high penetration in Canberra where it publishes the Canberra Times newspaper.

"But it is a totally different proposition in rural and regional Australia," McCarthy said at a recent press conference to announce Fairfax's takeover of Rural Press.

"It is extremely slow, I estimate that only ten per cent of homes out there would be connected today, so it is ahead of us in that sense and it is far behind the metro markets."

Kirk said Australia's rural penetration was poor.

"This organisation more than many others has an opportunity and the obligation to champion public policy that is good for regional and rural Australia," Kirk said.

"It will be good for us commercially, but not only will it be good for us, it will be good for the people out there to have access to broadband."

The merged group will have over five million visitors each month to websites including smh.com.au, theage.com.au, farmonline.com.au, canberratimes.com.au and yourguide.com.au.

In November News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch echoed remarks by Publishing and Broadcasting executive chairman James Packer who said in May that Australia's broadband wasn't fast enough.

Murdoch said broadband speeds were a "disgrace" and urged the government and Telstra to jointly fund an upgrade.

Telstra launched a new high-speed broadband service in early November but said regulatory constraints meant it would only be available in areas where its competitors already offered fast broadband.

In August, it scrapped plans to build a new $4 billion fibre optic network after negotiations with the competition watchdog over regulatory issues broke down.

The federal government will next year hand out more than $1 billion as part of the Broadband Connect funding programme which is aimed at improving rural broadband infrastructure.