Broadband News
Wed, 13th Sep 2017
NBN Co reveals over half of lines in limbo are HFC
NBN Co has revealed its HFC network accounts for the largest number of unserviceable connections of any fixed-line technology in the rollout.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra launches 'Telstra One Number' eSIM technology
Telstra's eSIM product, labelled 'Telstra One Number', allows customers to share a mobile number along with data, call, and text inclusions with compatible wearable devices.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra and Optus with eSIM on Apple Watch first, Vodafone to follow
Telstra was first to give details on its eSIM plans, with Optus being the other telco offering LTE Apple Watch Series 3 at launch, and Vodafone later this year.
Source: iTWire
'Telstra One Number' Is Telstra's New eSIM Tech
Hot on the back of Apple's announcement of the new Watch Series 3, the first Aussie telco to support its integrated eSIM has come out swinging. Telstra's new One Number service will let you hook up your phone and wearable to the same phone number and mobile data plan.
Source: Gizmodo
Tue, 12th Sep 2017
New mobile plans for TPG and Vaya ahead of 'iPhone X' launch
TPG and Amaysim's Vaya have joined Telstra and Vodafone in a mobile plan refresh ahead of this week's Apple iPhone announcement.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra wants voice-only NBN users back
Telstra is set to embark on a project to lure voice-only customers off the national broadband network.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 11th Sep 2017
ACMA: 5G spectrum planning pushes forward with mmWave progress
Millimetre wave spectrum for 5G broadband is the subject of the ACMA’s consultation paper, release today, with invitation for comments open and the deadline 13 October, 2017.
Source: iTWire
Superloop grows fixed wireless footprint with NuSkope buy
Superloop is shaping as a major player in the fixed wireless space, spending up to $12 million on South Australian network operator NuSkope and outlining ambitions to offer millimetre-wave broadband.
Source: iTnews Australia
Superloop acquires fixed wireless ISP NuSkope
ASX-listed network operator Superloop will acquire ISP NuSkope.
Source: Computerworld
NBN Co sets up own labs to train its techs
NBN Co is set to bring technical training for its 250-strong internal maintenance and fault repair workforce back in-house, cutting its costs by half.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fri, 08th Sep 2017
Telstra 'very quickly' repairs 4G outage across Sydney
Telstra said it rapidly discovered, identified, and repaired the issue causing its 4G network outage across some areas of NSW on Friday morning.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN rural broadband tax should be passed: Senate committee
The Bill that would levy broadband providers with a AU$7 a month charge per premises to subsidise NBN's satellite and fixed-wireless networks should be passed by Parliament, a Senate committee has recommended.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co hauls fibre across Australia's second-longest bridge
The NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, claims to have provided a fast broadband access network to 12,000 premises in north-east Brisbane after hauling a fibre cable across the second-longest bridge in the country.
Source: iTWire
Thu, 07th Sep 2017
TPG Is Literally Advertising The NBN As A Downgrade
SHOTS FIRED? A cheeky advert for internet service provider TPG has been doing the rounds online. It certainly doesn’t paint the NBN in a positive light. In fact, it explicitly depicts the beleaguered network as a downgrade.
Source: Gizmodo
Equinix datacentres selected for Vocus ASC subsea cable
Vocus' Australia-Singapore subsea cable will have points of presence in Equinix's IBX datacentres in Sydney and Melbourne.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Wed, 06th Sep 2017
Broadband tax edges closer to reality
The senate committee examining the broadband tax has dismissed industry concerns of scope creep and recommended it be passed into law.
Source: iTnews Australia
How to fix the NBN pricing model: open letter to Bill Morrow
The NBN pricing model is in urgent need of repair. In this letter, we offer our thoughts on how an overhaul of the pricing model can solve a number of problems facing the NBN.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co tardy in answering Senate questions: Labor
Labor's shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland claims the NBN Co takes an inordinately long time to answer questions raised during Senate hearings into the rollout of the national broadband network.
Source: iTWire
Tue, 05th Sep 2017
NBN denies 'margin squeeze' through CVC
Asking NBN to lower its CVC pricing is requiring it to fund the 'race to the bottom' on broadband pricing, it has argued, when RSPs could instead be focusing on quality rather than grabbing market share.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co's HFC cable rollout hits a speed bump
Problems surrounding the connecting of consumers to the NBN via HFC cable have led to the NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, changing the way it provides these connections.
Source: iTWire
Telstra responds to video growth with new mobile entertainment, data pack offers
Telstra has unveiled new post-paid and pre-paid mobile plans as it moves to put the focus on data and entertainment packages in the wake of what the telco says is 40% growth in video traffic every year.
Source: iTWire
Mobile provider OVO bids to provide an NBN alternative
Australia's fixed broadband speeds never do the nation proud. Mobile speeds, however, are among the best. But the one thing that prevents people depending on mobile accounts for their Internet use is data quotas.
Source: iTWire
Mon, 04th Sep 2017
No limits on telcos as slice of 5G spectrum auctioned
Australia’s four mobile operators will soon have a chance to snap up some spectrum to advance their 5G plans.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mobile telcos must provide 24-hour power backup in bushfire areas: Xenophon Team
Mobile carriers could be forced to ensure their base stations have 24 hours of backup standby power in high-risk bushfire areas under legislation proposed by the Nick Xenophon Team.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Subsea cable outage affects iiNet, Internode services
The SMW3 subsea cable between Perth and Singapore that services South East Asia, among other regions, has suffered a break with a repair date at least six weeks away.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co says it may not overbuild all FTTN
NBN Co has indicated it might not pursue a complete overbuild of its fibre-to-the-node network in future, and may instead limit any deployment of fibre deeper into its network to areas of latent demand.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fri, 01st Sep 2017
Australians willing to pay for better broadband: NBN
A survey has shown 40 percent of consumers would be willing to pay AU$12 extra per month for 'better' broadband, according to NBN CEO Bill Morrow, who hopes uptake will increase beyond 25Mbps.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Labor slams Turnbull over 'pricey, delayed NBN'
Labor's shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland has slammed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over what she says is a 3½-year delay in completing the rollout of the national broadband network at a cost claimed to be $20 billion over budget.
Source: iTWire
Thu, 31st Aug 2017
NBN reduces peak funding to AU$51b
NBN has decreased the total number of premises in Australia by 200,000 and reduced peak funding to AU$51 billion at maximum, reducing its FttN footprint and increasing those covered by HFC.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co and positive customer experience: never the twain shall meet
The NBN Co makes nice PowerPoint slides whenever it creates the corporate plans that it intends to use as a means of telling the world that all is well at headquarters.
Source: iTWire