Broadband News
Thu, 15th Feb 2018
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
NBN reveals surge in higher-speed plans
NBN has announced a surge in end users on its 50 megabits per second speed tier, with the company today revealing that it expects 1.1 million additional end-users to have 50/20Mbps broadband services by June.
Source: Computerworld
Fri, 09th Feb 2018
Telstra threatened with lawsuit over third-party billing cancellation
ASX-listed mobile marketing and carrier billing company Impelus has promised to take Telstra to court over its decision to stop allowing subscription-based content providers to charge for their products from the telco's bills.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 08th Feb 2018
Optus rolls out smart cells for Sydney botanic garden
Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden and Domain are banking on Optus' small cells and ENE-HUB's smart pole designs to bring 4G coverage, free Wi-Fi, and digital services to the area.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN capacity purchase increase leads to 1.53Mbps per user
Five RSPs have now connected to all 121 NBN points of interconnect, with the ACCC also recording a marginal increase per user in CVC capacity purchased from 1.11Mbps to 1.53Mbps.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus adds 'record' 127k mobile customers
Optus has announced net profit of AU$262 million for the quarter on revenue of AU$2.33 billion, with the telco attributing this to the addition of 127,000 post-paid mobile customers.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus Business sees revenue fall
Optus Business saw a year-on-year decline in revenue for the quarter ending December 2017, according to the latest financial report by parent company, Singtel.
Source: ARN
ACCC optimistic on consumer benefits as retailers vie for NBN services
Telstra continues to dominate the market for services on the NBN, well ahead of all other telcos, with just under half of the services nationally and an even greater share in regional Australia.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co sees first major CVC increase
NBN Co has seen its first major movement in the amount of connectivity virtual circuit being bought by RSPs, coinciding with the launch of a new temporary price construct.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN resellers finally start buying more bandwidth
The ACCC has revealed a 38 per cent increase in NBN CVC acquired by resellers for the three months ending December.
Source: ARN
Warner Bros chases Netflix with film streaming pilot
American entertainment giant Warner Bros is dipping its toes into on-demand content in Australia through a partnership with ASX-listed video technology start-up Linius Technologies.
Source: iTnews Australia
30% to abandon NBN for wireless: ALP report claim
A new ACCC co-funded survey has been cited by the Australian Labor Party as showing that 30% of households could abandon the NBN and switch to wireless broadband. The number stands in in stark contrast to NBN Co projections.
Source: iTWire
Wed, 07th Feb 2018
Kogan Mobile launches $7.90, 32GB 'first-recharge' deal for new customers
Fierce 'everything' competitor, Kogan, has slashed all of its 30-day SIM-only deals to $7.90 for the first recharge, with the standout feature a massive 32GB for the first recharge.
Source: iTWire
New NBN exec to oversee enterprise push
NBN has announced that Paul Tyler will lead its business sales and marketing division.
Source: Computerworld
NBN Co poaches Telstra business group exec
NBN Co has poached Telstra’s group managing director for business to head up its own business operations.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN take-up dips as low as 39 percent
NBN Co is seeing take-up in some of its worst-performing areas between 15 percent and 35 percent below forecasts - and the key question the company is trying to answer now is why.
Source: iTnews Australia