Broadband News

Sun, 16th Aug 2026

Social media firms urge caution on early Australia under-16 ban data

Top social media platforms urged the Australian government not ⁠to place ⁠too much weight on early evidence showing most children still use their products despite a landmark under-16 ban, as lawmakers weigh tougher penalties and investigative powers for regulators.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 13th Aug 2026

‘Accountability rests with me’: Telstra boss rakes in $6.8m but Triple Zero outage costs her

Vicki Brady’s pay package rose 11 per cent for a financial year that ended three weeks before the nationwide outage that cut off Triple Zero calls, but the incident did hit her hip pocket.

Source: SMH

Tue, 11th Aug 2026

Why Grand Theft Auto’s Netflix deal is creating controversy

Eager players will get their first look at the blockbuster game early on August 28. There’s just one catch.

Source: SMH

Mon, 10th Aug 2026

Federal police urged to investigate 'concerning' subsea cable fault

Two subsea cables off the coast of Perth, vital for international communications, suffered a fault over the weekend, and the company that owns them urgently wants to know what happened.

Source: ABC News

AFP assessing report in connection with Perth cable faults

The Australian Federal Police is assessing a report of a potential crime after the owner of two undersea cables laid in protection zones near Perth revealed faults commonly attributed to ship activity.

Source: iTnews Australia

Australian telcos advise customers to dial up vigilance against census impresonator scams

Australia’s major telcos are warning customers to be vigilant against scammers who may use the Census to trick them into sharing access to personal data and financial information.

Source: iTWire

Thu, 06th Aug 2026

Aussie Broadband actively exploring AI in customer service

Aussie Broadband is actively exploring AI as a handoff technology for routine and repetitive customer support requests.

Source: iTnews Australia

Wed, 05th Aug 2026

ACCC to consider mandatory domestic mobile roaming

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission may soon force mobile network operators to share each other’s infrastructure, particularly in regional areas.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 30th Jul 2026

NBN Co using AI to draft incident reports, prepare field crews

NBN Co is using artificial intelligence to prepare the “first cut” of post-incident reports and to better prepare crews to fix damaged infrastructure, amid a flurry of new use cases.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus sued over Triple Zero outage linked to two deaths

Optus paid $12 million over its 2023 emergency call failures. This time the maximum exposure runs past $500 million.

Source: SMH

Singtel confirms talks to sell Optus stake

Singtel has confirmed it is shopping a stake in its Australian subsidiary Optus after reports indicated around one-third of the telco may be up for sale.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 27th Jul 2026

Live: AusAlert siren rings out across millions of Australians' phones

Millions of mobile phones and devices have been sent warning signals as part of the nationwide AusAlert emergency system trial. Follow live.

Source: ABC News

Fri, 24th Jul 2026

Microsoft investigating reported Teams outage across Asia-Pacific

Microsoft is investigating an issue affecting Microsoft Teams, with users reporting widespread issues.

Source: ABC News

Thu, 23rd Jul 2026

'Terribly expensive for no service': Claims new mobile maps still not accurate

Telcos were forced to publish mobile phone coverage maps to new standards last month, but some Telstra customers say they still do not reflect reality.

Source: ABC News

Origin Energy confirms breach of customer data

Energy company Origin confirms there has been unauthorised access to and disclosure of some customers' data, a day after it announced it was investigating a "potential" breach.

Source: ABC News

Tue, 21st Jul 2026

ACMA pledge scheme helps decimate dodgy device listings

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says listings of unsafe mobiles phones and other shady radio devices have fallen dramatically since it introduced a voluntary scheme aimed at online retailers.

Source: iTnews Australia

Sun, 19th Jul 2026

Consumer rights lost in the digital media age are unlikely to come back

Sony’s decision to end PlayStation games on disc is the latest blow to physical media, but the digital games, movies and music you buy aren’t actually yours.

Source: SMH

Fri, 17th Jul 2026

Telstra broke its network with undocumented time fix

Telstra has revealed twin causes behind its nationwide mobile outage earlier this month, comprising an unrecorded configuration change on a Symmetricom SSU-2000 Network Time Synchronisation System unit, combined with a years-old outstanding firmware update.

Source: iTnews Australia

Wed, 15th Jul 2026

Nowhere to run to: Why angry Telstra users may stay put

Customers frustrated by last week’s nationwide Telstra outage have few reliable alternatives to switch to, according to telecommunications analysts.

Source: SMH

Labor takes a stand on data centre rules and AI copyright

The prime minister unveils Labor's plan for new AI national standards, warning Australia has a narrow window to set AI's "social license".

Source: ABC News

Tue, 14th Jul 2026

Australia to establish government AI office

Australia will create an office ⁠at ⁠the heart of government to manage the development of AI standards, seeking to balance the need to attract investment with effective regulation of ‌the disruptive technology.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mobile telcos cautious on expanding emergency comms beyond voice

Australia’s top mobile carriers have cautiously supported expanding emergency communications beyond voice calls but warned that it will require substantial regulatory change.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 13th Jul 2026

Senate inquiry to interrogate whether cheap, out-of-date device caused outage

Greens senator and inquiry chair Sarah Hanson-Young has threatened a crackdown on telco giants responsible for multiple outages in the past few years.

Source: SMH

Telstra outage: your right to claim and the fine print that limits it

Lawyers are eying a class action over last week’s outage, while the ombudsman can order payouts of up to $100,000.

Source: SMH

Fri, 10th Jul 2026

Telstra may have avoided meltdown by spending just thousands on a known problem

Insiders say the equipment behind the Triple Zero outage was flagged for replacement years ago, but the work landed in the “too hard” basket.

Source: SMH

Thu, 09th Jul 2026

Death under investigation as Telstra admits 600 Triple Zero calls failed

The communications minister demanded the telco offer “total transparency” after it admitted that about twice as many emergency calls failed to go through as it first suggested.

Source: SMH

Elderly woman left 'frightened', senator 'irresponsible' over Telstra outage

An SA woman says her elderly mother was left 'frightened' during the Telstra outage after a fall. Meanwhile, SA police have said they have no record of any deaths during the network failure, despite a senator's claims.

Source: ABC News

SpaceX applies to launch 100,000 Gen3 Starlink satellites

SpaceX has filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for authority to launch and operate up to 100,000 third-generation Starlink satellites, the biggest such broadband constellation proposed so far.

Source: iTnews Australia

Wed, 08th Jul 2026

QLD police check on 21 Triple Zero callers after Telstra outage

Queensland police confirmed multiple emergency calls across the state failed to connect to Triple Zero during the nationwide Telstra outage.

Source: ABC News

Live: Telstra says it's working to resolve network 'issue'

Telstra customers are reporting problems connecting to the internet and making calls this morning. Follow live.

Source: ABC News