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I (Richard S) write this while listening to Michael Wills, Minister for Communications, responding to Steve Webb's excellent speech on 'Telecommunications regulation and the growth of the Internet' on 9 June 1999. (The official transcript is now published in Hansard). The speech (which mentioned this site's URL and offered a number of quotes from our material) mentioned every important issue now and in the future, from Freeserve via cable modems and xDSL to screaming.net and BT dragging its feet over transferring customers to LocalTel. Sadly, the Minister's reply was, basically, stating how wonderful UK regulation is - in particular, that we have forty-five operators offering international cut-price deals! This is a favourite topic for Ministers in such debates as it makes the United Kingdom look good but, frankly, it is not relevant to most people. What struck me the most about watching the Minister speak was his constant glancing at the clock. The impression I got was that he was desperate not to allow anyone else to have a say after him (the debate was limited to half an hour and no more). His entire contribution was read from a prepared script and he didn't answer a single point made in Steve Webb's speech. A few specific issues the Minister raised:
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