Broadband News
Mon, 01st Oct 2018
Call for more telecoms consumer safeguards
There has been a call for further safeguards to prevent consumers being misled about telecommunications billing charges in the wake of Telstra’s refunding of $9.3 million for misleading consumers over Premium Direct Billing charges.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 28th Sep 2018
Telstra refunds customers signed up to billing service without their knowledge
The telco refunds more than 72,000 customers more than $9.3 million after they were signed up to a billing service without even realising it when they were using third party apps on their phones.
Source: ABC News
Australia bid to push Huawei out of PNG cable project
Australia, along with Japan and the US, is once again trying to elbow out Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from building a cable system, this time an internal one in Papua New Guinea.
Source: iTWire
Lack of NBN Co discounting forces MyRepublic to hike prices
The prediction made by the chief of Launceston-based ISP Launtel that smaller retail service providers selling NBN plans would be in difficulty after October appears to be coming true, with one small provider, MyRepublic, announcing that it would raise its prices from 27 October.
Source: iTWire
Verizon pushes LTE to 1.45Gbps speeds
Verizon, Nokia, and Qualcomm have achieved speeds of almost 1.5Gbps on the carrier's live commercial LTE network in New York.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra refunds customers AU$9.3m for billing practices
After being fined AU$10 million for misleading customers on its management of premium direct billing services, Telstra has also had to refund customers a total of AU$9.3 million.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Thu, 27th Sep 2018
Telstra and Ericsson deploy long range NB-IoT connections
Ericsson and Telstra have successfully deployed and tested Narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) data connections of up to 100km from any Telstra base station.
Source: ARN
Telstra NBN users in Brisbane's west hit by outages
NBN users in western parts of Brisbane, who are Telstra subscribers and are connected via HFC cable, have been enduring outages right through the week, with the Internet suddenly cutting off as early as 8.10am and reconnecting as late as 6pm.
Source: iTWire
Milne resigns as ABC chairman over Guthrie sacking fallout
Justin Milne announces he will resign as ABC chairman after the corporation's board met over the growing fallout from the sacking of managing director Michelle Guthrie.
Source: ABC News
Wed, 26th Sep 2018
ACMA expands telco consumer forum
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has expanded its Consumer Consultative Forum (CCF), with the appointment of eight new members.
Source: iTWire
Tue, 25th Sep 2018
NBN upgrades transit network to 19.2Tbps per fibre link
The upgraded capacity on NBN's backbone fibre-optic transit network will initially be available in Sydney before being switched on across the nation.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co doubles transit capacity in upgrade
NBN Co has announced a doubling of capacity on its 60,000km fibre network, after it delivered an update it expects will deliver broadband to more customers seeking more data.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co doubles transit network capacity
The company building the national broadband network NBN Co has flicked the switch on a major upgrade to double bandwidth capacity along its 60,000km fibre optic backbone.
Source: ARN
Telstra restates its NBN fixed wireless speeds
Telstra has revealed a more conservative set of numbers for the speed of NBN fixed wireless services during the evening peak, six months after becoming the first telco to publish fixed wireless data.
Source: iTnews Australia
Regional Australia Bank turns to NBN fibre to connect branches
Regional Australia Bank will use NBN fibre at all 32 of its locations under a deal with Macquarie Telecom.
Source: Computerworld
Mon, 24th Sep 2018
Encryption bill: Telstra, Optus focus on how they will be affected
Big telcos Telstra and Optus have focused on how the Federal Government's encryption bill would affect their businesses in their submissions made to the public consultation on the draft bill, rather than the wider ramifications of the legislation.
Source: iTWire
ABC sacks MD Michelle Guthrie halfway through term
ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie is sacked just two-and-a-half years into her five-year term, with chairman Justin Milne saying "her leadership style was not the style that we needed going forward".
Source: ABC News
The race to ruin the internet is upon us
Australia versus China versus Europe: It's a potent combination of ineptness and maliciousness, and the internet is about to change.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Fri, 21st Sep 2018
Anger as outages hit Optus customers across the country
Customers across eastern seaboard complain they can't make phone calls or access the internet on their mobiles as telco says it is working to fix the issues.
Source: SMH
ACMA seeks public input to telecoms industry infringement rules
The telecommunications industry regulator the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) wants to change the rules governing the industry to allow it to issue infringement notices for contraventions of the Service Migration Determination regulating consumer moves to the NBN.
Source: iTWire
New warning for telcos over handling of NBN complaints
The head of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says that the regulator has found evidence that telcos are not abiding by new complaints-handling rules.
Source: Computerworld
RSPs will have to tread with care as ACMA NBN rules now fully in place
The final rules devised by the Australian Communications and Media Authority to improve the experience of consumers who move over to the national broadband network, and carrying penalties of up to $10 million for offenders, take effect from today.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co to simplify network and IT architecture
NBN Co has embarked on what could be a decade-long initiative to simplify its IT and network architecture and manage the build-up of “technical debt”.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 20th Sep 2018
How Telstra handles subsea cables during typhoons
Telstra was able to ensure there was no interruption of services across its subsea cables during Typhoon Mangkhut thanks to its submarine network management process, the telco has said.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra CTO unveils cells on wings
The Telstra Labs team has been working on developing and trialling drones as flying mobile base stations to be used in natural disaster-impacted areas.
Source: ZDNet Australia
First section of INDIGO West cable laid
The first section new subsea cable that will connect Australia’s west coast to Singapore has landed at Floreat Beach in Perth.
Source: Computerworld
Wed, 19th Sep 2018
Telstra completes 2Gbps data call on live 4G network
Telstra, Ericsson, and Qualcomm have completed the world's first 2Gbps data call over a live, commercial 4G LTE network.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra wants to hang onto business services a bit longer
Telstra has suddenly gone cold on the prospect of mass-migrating business Ethernet and DSL users off its network from November 12, seeking a stay until the end of January 2019.
Source: iTnews Australia
Extension for moving special business services to NBN opposed
Small broadband provider Aussie Broadband has voiced its opposition to a proposal to extend the disconnection date for special business services to migrate from legacy infrastructure to the NBN.
Source: iTWire
Telstra towers over rivals in war for NBN power
Telstra has emerged from the 2018 financial reporting season with an even higher concentration of NBN power as its rivals struggle to break even on customer migrations.
Source: iTnews Australia