Broadband News
Tue, 20th Feb 2018
Telstra to pursue 'open telco' experiment
Telstra has revealed the existence of an ‘open telco experiment’ that will combine elements from at least three open source software projects.
Source: iTnews Australia
5G will complement NBN, not replace it: Nokia
5G will not replace Australia's NBN, according to Nokia's head of Fixed Networks, as fixed-line technology upgrade paths will enable faster speeds sooner than wireless, and with greater download allowances.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACCC to penalise NBN Co if technicians miss appointments
Australian Consumer and Competition Commission chairman Rod Sims says rules will be introduced to penalise the NBN Co when its technicians do not turn up for scheduled appointments.
Source: iTWire
Mon, 19th Feb 2018
NBN Co told to expect new service standards
NBN Co has been warned to “expect much higher levels of regulation” this year as the competition watchdog turns its attention to the network builder’s role in the end-to-end NBN experience.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN plans capacity boost for fixed wireless network
NBN plans to boost the capacity of its fixed wireless service, according to the company’s executive general manager for access products, Gavin Williams.
Source: Computerworld
NBN Co to invest in fixed wireless upgrade
NBN Co has promised to invest in capacity upgrades for its fixed wireless network after coming under fire over its approach to dealing with congestion.
Source: iTnews Australia
House panel opens inquiry into NBN Co business case
The Australian parliament's Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network has opened inquiries into the NBN Co's business case and the rollout of the network in rural and regional areas.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 16th Feb 2018
NBN business case, regional rollout to be scrutinised
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network will put NBN’s financial forecasts under the microscope as one of two new inquiries.
Source: Computerworld
NBN Co fixes wireless when users go below 3Mbps peak
NBN Co has publicly defined the threshold at which it considers fixed wireless towers to be congested enough to warrant an upgrade.
Source: iTnews Australia
Network expert says NBN Co's business model is broken
A prominent network expert and frequent commentator on the national broadband network has described NBN Co's half-yearly results as a "train wreck" and said that there is nothing that can be done to get the company back on the rails.
Source: iTWire
Thu, 15th Feb 2018
Telstra focuses on cutting costs as NBN rollout ramps up
Telstra plans to double down on its efforts to reduce costs as it works to minimise the impact caused by the NBN rollout.
Source: ARN
Telstra to get more 'aggressive' after AU$1.7b half-year profit: Penn
Telstra will increase its 'intensity' heading into the second half of FY18 after reporting EBITDA of AU$5.1 billion and net profit of AU$1.7 billion, with CEO Andy Penn outlining the company's NBN customer improvement strategy.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra delivers 85 percent of NBN speeds during peak
Telstra is buying more connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) bandwidth for NBN users, today claiming it now delivers “more than” 85 percent of the maximum speed of services during peak times.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra profits drop on back of Ooyala investment disaster
Telstra’s profitability has taken a big hit from its disastrous investment in US-based business Ooyala with the big telco reporting profit for the six months to the end of December plunged by 5% to $1.7 billion compared to the previous half year.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co finally breaks out cost of FTTB
NBN Co has finally broken out the cost of deploying fibre-to-the-basement technology, putting it at $2822 per premises.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra-backed trial achieves 2Gbps downloads over 4G
Telstra, Ericsson, Netgear and Qualcomm have achieved wireless data transfer speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second during in-lab testing.
Source: Computerworld
Telstra and Ericsson attain 2Gbps 4G speeds
A year after launching gigabit LTE, Telstra and Ericsson have announced attaining 2Gbps speeds across 4G by utilising 4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM, and aggregating 100MHz of spectrum across three frequency bands.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co launches STEM initiative for some schools
NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, has launched what it calls a STEM+X initiative to help educate students so they can achieve skills that will enable them to compete in the workforce.
Source: iTWire
Wed, 14th Feb 2018
Australia Singapore Cable prepares for start of main lays
Cable and repeaters destined for the Australia Singapore Cable (ASC) project are now en route to Singapore and Christmas Island as the Vocus-owned initiative prepares to start the main cable lay.
Source: iTnews Australia
Councils yet to get NBN area switch over the line
NBN Co is yet to see any councils that have applied to upgrade the NBN connections of constituents sign off on the costs to proceed.
Source: iTnews Australia
Greens say net neutrality inquiry needed in Australia
The Australian Greens claim that an inquiry into net neutrality is needed to ensure that Australians are guaranteed access to a free and open Internet.
Source: iTWire
Tue, 13th Feb 2018
Senate knocks back net neutrality inquiry
The Senate has voted down a Greens motion to establish a parliamentary inquiry into network neutrality protections.
Source: Computerworld
Users furious over Vocus Sydney data centre outage
Vocus customers are suffering major issues after “unsuccessful UPS maintenance” at the operator’s Alexandria data centre in Sydney this morning caused a power outage.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 12th Feb 2018
NBN Co 'open' to alternative use of its 5G spectrum
NBN Co says it is “open” to discussions on how its valuable 3.5GHz spectrum holdings could be opened to commercial 5G use.
Source: iTnews Australia
Losses mount as NBN network rollout continues
The national broadband network comes at an increasing cost to Australian taxpayers, with massive losses continuing to mount as the rollout grinds towards a scheduled completion by 2020.
Source: iTWire
No changes to HFC in NBN rollout plan, says Morrow
Despite the fact that a number of suburbs which were marked down to get the national broadband network via HFC cable have had a quiet change of technology, NBN Co head honcho Bill Morrow says that there is no change in the HFC rollout.
Source: iTWire
Still no end date for NBN Co HFC sales halt
NBN Co chief, Bill Morrow, has revealed there is still no firm date from which it will begin taking new orders for its HFC network.
Source: ARN
NBN expecting 1.2m people on 50Mbps speeds by mid year
NBN has announced that it is expecting to have up to 1.6 million premises on speeds of 50Mbps or above by June thanks to discounting the wholesale pricing of higher speed tiers.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co expects seven-fold growth in 50Mbps users by June
NBN Co is predicting it will have more than 1.2 million premises on 50Mbps plans by June, seven times more than at the end of 2017.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN's HFC Network Is Costing Taxpayers A Whole Lot More Than Anyone Ever Imagined
Late last year NBN announced an immediate halt to any new Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial connections while it worked on "improving the service for existing customers", a move which was tipped to cost taxpayers between $420 to $790 million, according to NBN's own figures. Today, NBN's half yearly result showed an increase of $450 million in costs to the HFC network - an increase that Shadow Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says isn't even including the costs of the "halt".
Source: Gizmodo