Australian telco Optus launched a new satellite broadband solution, Optus Broadband Satellite. The service aims to provide fast Internet connections at affordable prices to rural Australia. John Anderson, the deputy prime minister of Australia, unveiled the service, which will be part of the Federal Government’s Higher Satellite Bandwidth Incentive Scheme (HiBIS).

The service includes three different packages, with the low-cost package priced at $53.20 a month with a download speed of 256 Kbps.

Paul Fletcher, Optus’ director of corporate and regulatory affairs, commented, “To date, Australians in rural and regional areas haven’t had a lot of choice for their communications needs, so they have tended to face poor service and inflated prices. From today, Optus will offer affordable broadband to people in the bush – backed by Optus’ proven track record of successfully delivering Internet access to the people of Australia.”