Broadband News

Thu, 18th Dec 2025

NBN Co's 2Gbps services are too fast for ACCC to monitor

NBN Co's new 2Gbps residential internet plans are too fast to be monitored with SamKnows boxes for the competition watchdog's speed testing program.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus review uncovers 40-60 second delay with emergency calling camp-on

An investigation into the Optus triple zero outage has revealed it can take up to a minute for an emergency call to be re-routed over another telco’s network under a process called ‘camp-on’.

Source: iTnews Australia

‘Inexcusable’: Optus staff face sack after review into Triple Zero outage

The telco’s chairman calls the findings of an independent review into the incident “a sobering read for everyone at Optus”.

Source: SMH

Wed, 17th Dec 2025

Telstra Satellite Messaging expands to include Google Pixel devices

From today, Telstra Satellite Messaging is now available on additional devices, including Google Pixel phones and the Samsung Galaxy A17 5G, giving more Australians the ability to connect when outside mobile coverage.

Source: iTWire

Telcos argue ACMA's $2.3bn spectrum fee-hike will crush investment

Australia’s mobile network operators have expressed disappointment universally at the prospect of paying up to $2.3 billion more than expected for spectrum they need to operate mobile and wireless broadband networks.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 16th Dec 2025

Telcos, NBN Co face collective $7.3bn bill to renew wireless spectrum

Australia’s telcos, together with NBN Co, are facing higher costs to keep radio spectrum used for mobile and wireless broadband services than they had lobbied for.

Source: iTnews Australia

Sun, 14th Dec 2025

Telstra satellite messaging service now available to enterprise customers

Telstra has expanded its satellite messaging service to Telstra Enterprise customers with eligible Adaptive Mobility plans.

Source: ARN

Google to build subsea cables in PNG under Australia defence treaty

Google will build three subsea cables in Papua New Guinea, which the largest Pacific Island nation said was funded by Australia under a mutual defence treaty, in a key upgrade to its digital backbone.

Source: iTnews Australia

Desperate vibes as under 16s crowd into Yope and Lemon8

Previously little-known social media platforms are stuck at the top of app store charts as young Australians seek shelter from the social media ban in places they previously tended to ignore.

Source: SMH

Fri, 12th Dec 2025

ACMA secures pledges from major online retailers to block "dodgy" mobile sales

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has moved to stop unsafe mobile phones and other illegal radio equipment getting into consumers’ hands with a new voluntary scheme aimed at online device sellers.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 11th Dec 2025

Reddit files High Court bid to overturn teen social media ban

The platform says banning under-16s from social media silences young Australians and makes them less safe online.

Source: SMH

NBN Co puts a longer predictive lens on its digital twin ambitions

NBN Co is hoping that its latest foray into digital twin technology will enable it to predict network performance and customer experience, building on six years of internal work with the technology.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 09th Dec 2025

TPG Telecom reveals potential new fatality linked to Samsung handset

TPG Telecom has reported another potential triple zero call-related customer fatality linked to the use of a Samsung mobile handset model with a known emergency calling limitation.

Source: iTnews Australia

‘People want me to fail’: The woman in charge of enforcing Australia’s social media ban feels the heat

Julie Inman Grant is battling tech giants and High Court challenges while navigating her 13-year-old daughter’s conviction that the ban will “ruin her life”.

Source: SMH

TPG Telecom links second death to Triple Zero failure

TPG Telecom chief executive Iñaki Berroeta flags another death possibly linked to a customer's inability to call Triple Zero (000) on their Samsung mobile phone.

Source: ABC News

Mon, 08th Dec 2025

TPG reveals second possible Triple Zero death

The telco’s chief executive Inaki Berroeta has told a Senate committee hearing that incompatible Samsung software is to blame.

Source: SMH

Vocus seeks four new submarine cable protection zones

Vocus is lobbying the government to more than double the number of submarine cable protection zones in Australia and to more actively police the areas.

Source: iTnews Australia

Keep AI browsers out of your enterprise, warns Gartner

AI browsers including Perplexity Comet and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas present security risks that cannot be adequately mitigated, and enterprises should prevent employees using them, according to Gartner.

Source: Computerworld

NBN Co teams up with RMIT University to ‘advance broadband innovation in support of Australia’s digital future’

A new three-year agreement between NBN Co and RMIT University will bring together academics and telco industry experts with the aim of developing enhanced broadband outcomes for the nation.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 05th Dec 2025

NEXTDC to build AI campus and GPU "supercluster" in Sydney

NEXTDC will build an AI campus and GPU "supercluster" in Western Sydney that will power OpenAI's services in Australia.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 04th Dec 2025

Samsung tried to fix triple zero problem with mobiles nearly five years ago

The mystery over why owners of a group of 71 Samsung mobile phone models couldn’t place emergency calls properly has taken strange turn, with Samsung insisting that it took steps to fix the problem nearly five years ago.

Source: iTnews Australia

Wed, 03rd Dec 2025

Optus network server failure downs NBN services in Queensland

A network server failure is behind a lengthy outage impacting around 95,000 Optus NBN customers in Brisbane and parts of Queensland.

Source: iTnews Australia

Brisbane hit with widespread Optus internet outages

Optus apologises for NBN internet outages affecting Brisbane and some other parts of Queensland.

Source: ABC News

YouTube to logout its under-16 users next week

Google will automatically sign under 16s out of YouTube next week, which will disable their channels, subscriptions and playlists, as well as some parental controls.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co curbed on FTTN overbuild cost claim to stop bill shock

NBN Co will be limited in how much the last part of its fibre-to-the-network overbuild can be used to increase broadband pricing from mid-2032.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 02nd Dec 2025

Australian teen challenging social media ban says internet will be less safe

A teenager suing the Australian government to overturn a ban on social media for under-16s says the measure would make the internet more dangerous for young people and be widely circumvented.

Source: iTnews Australia

Samsung handsets could be leaving hundreds of thousands at risk

Hundreds of thousands of Australian consumers using some models of Samsung mobile phones are currently at risk of not being able reaching emergency services reliably, according to the communications regulator, ACMA.

Source: iTnews Australia

Federal Court orders Google to pay $55 million for anti-competitive conduct

Australia's Federal Court has order Google to pay $55 million in penalties after it found that "understandings" it entered with local telcos to preload its search engine on Android devices breached competition laws.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 01st Dec 2025

Opticomm customers across Australia losing free-to-air television and facing internet outages

When Leah Wray and her family moved into a new suburb on the outskirts of Darwin in 2023, she was sold on the promise of it being a "smart community" with top-of-the-line underground technology.

Source: ABC News

Government drops AI 'mandatory guardrails', reveals road map on data centres

The federal government's long-awaited National AI Plan will seek to accelerate the growth of artificial intelligence in Australia, and largely leverage existing laws to protect against its worst harms.

Source: ABC News