Broadband News
Fri, 07th Apr 2017
Qantas kicks off commercial in-flight Wi-Fi with speeds of around 7Mbps
Tests during Qantas' first on-board Wi-Fi flight have seen speeds of around 7.24Mbps download and 0.61Mbps upload on the day of its commercial launch across domestic flights in beta mode.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACCC to expose internet companies that lie about broadband speeds
The Federal Government announces it will spend $7 million to monitor NBN broadband speeds across the country.
Source: ABC News
Australia launches NBN speed monitoring program
Up to 4000 households will be invited to participate in a national broadband network (NBN) monitoring program from next month, to show consumers what speeds telcos are really providing during peak and off-peak hours.
Source: SMH
Thu, 06th Apr 2017
Superloop acquires subsea cable company SubPartners
Superloop has acquired submarine cable construction company SubPartners for approximately $2.5 million following its announcement of the new Indigo subsea cable being built with Google, Telstra, Singtel, and others.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ADSL connections begin to decline in Australia
Australians managed to download 2.6 exabytes — 2.6 million terabytes — in the last three months of 2016, new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal.
Source: Computerworld
Google, Telstra back new subsea cable system
The APX West and Central cable system has a new name — INDIGO — a number of new backers, with a consortium comprising AARNet, Google, Indosat Ooredoo, Optus parent company Singtel, SubPartners, and Telstra announcing today that they had struck a deal with Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to build the subsea cable.
Source: Computerworld
Superloop buys SubPartners in capacity push
Superloop Limited has bought telecommunications infrastructure company, SubPartners, in a move to expand its international capacity.
Source: ARN
Google is helping to build another Asia-Pacific submarine cable
Google is investing in another massive undersea fiber-optic cable as a part of its plans to build out network connectivity around the world. The company announced Wednesday that it is helping to fund a project called Indigo, which will connect Jakarta, Singapore, Perth and Sydney to one another.
Source: ARN
ABS calls BS on Aussie broadband performance by sticking with NBN 'advertised download speeds'
While Australians are chewing through more data than ever, the latest Internet Activity report continues to steer well clear of the quagmire surrounding real-world NBN broadband speeds.
Source: SMH
Wed, 05th Apr 2017
NBN lower-grade services 'not acceptable': Queensland government
By both sticking remote Queenslanders on satellite services and making them subject to rollout delays, NBN is preventing them from 'functioning as equals' in the digital economy, according to the state government.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co hiding poor technology from users, says expert
The NBN Co has not undertaken any demonstrations to show Australians what kind of speeds are needed to get good response times when streaming videos, because to do so would show the inadequacy of the technology being used, a network expert says.
Source: iTWire
TPG spends SG$23.8m on more Singapore mobile broadband spectrum
The Singaporean comms authority has announced that Singtel has paid SG$563.7 million, StarHub SG$349.6 million, M1 SG$208 million, and TPG SG$23.8 million on mobile broadband spectrum in its auction.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Investigator: NBN blues
The rollout of the NBN has caused not end of grief for many people. Stories of long service interruptions during the changeover from old services to new are common. So, it was refreshing when one of our readers, Carl, sent this through.
Source: PC Authority
NBN resellers see connections surge
The company behind the rollout of the country’s National Broadband Network (NBN), nbn, has flagged a new milestone, as resellers of the network see new connections surge.
Source: ARN
Tue, 04th Apr 2017
Optus beefs up connectivity and support for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games
Optus has inked a strategic partnership with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation for communications infrastructure and managed services for the event.
Source: ARN
NBN Co quietly starts trials connecting traffic lights
NBN Co could start connecting “industrial systems” like IoT gateways and traffic lights as soon as the end of this year, with technical trials already underway.
Source: iTnews Australia
Optus begins first tranche of 2G network shutdown
Optus has taken the first steps towards shutting down its 2G network, switching off Western Australia and the Northern Territory ahead of closing the rest of the network in August.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 03rd Apr 2017
NBN pulls new broadband users, leads to switching of ISPs
The rollout of the national broadband network is making Australians take up broadband Internet connections for the first time and making others, who are already users, switch providers.
Source: iTWire
Cyclone Debbie takes out two NBN nodes
Only two National Broadband Network nodes are so far known to have been seriously damaged by Tropical Cyclone Debbie in Queensland, according to NBN.
Source: Computerworld
Fri, 31st Mar 2017
NBN will be outdated before rollout is complete: ACT government
The ACT government has labelled NBN's FttN technology 'substandard', and said that large swathes of the network will be outdated before the rollout is even complete.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACT Chief Minister blasts NBN rollout
The NBN is unlikely to meet the needs of the Australian Capital Territory, according to the territory’s Chief Minister, Andrew Barr.
Source: ARN
NBN worried about the cost of USO changes
NBN has reiterated its concerns about the potential costs involved in any changes to Australia’s telecommunications Universal Service Obligation (USO or TUSO) scheme that could leave the network operator responsible for delivering voice services in remote areas.
Source: Computerworld
Thu, 30th Mar 2017
Telstra, Spark, Vodafone switch on 20Tbps New Zealand subsea cable
The $100 million 20Tbps two-pair fibre subsea cable between Australia and New Zealand has been switched on by Telstra, Spark, and Vodafone.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN announces 100Mbps fixed-wireless product
NBN fixed-wireless users will be able to connect at speeds of 100/40Mbps next year thanks to a new product utilising carrier aggregation and a new wireless NTD developed alongside Ericsson, NetComm Wireless, and Qualcomm.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN sends in field team to assess Cyclone Debbie impact
NBN has despatched a field team to areas in Queensland affected by Cyclone Debby in order to assess damage to National Broadband Network infrastructure.
Source: Computerworld
The 4013 urban premises to receive NBN satellite
More than 4000 premises in “urban” electorates across Australia are being offered Sky Muster satellite services to connect to the national broadband network.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN fixed wireless to get a speed boost to 100Mbps
NBN will offer a 100/40 megabits per second wholesale service on its fixed wireless network from early 2018.
Source: Computerworld
Wed, 29th Mar 2017
Consumer buck-passing is the unchanging NBN model
Of the menagerie of original sins with the NBN, the urge for it to be cashflow positive as quickly as possible keeps returning to hurt everyone involved.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN says it has ‘zero tolerance’ over leaks
NBN says that it takes seriously “any potential crime or breach of employee code of conduct, such as the theft of company materials, and will continue to take a zero tolerance approach in the best interests of the company, its shareholders, and the Australian taxpayers.”
Source: Computerworld
NBN rollout info by electorate released by Communications Department
Australians can check when their suburb will have NBN build commenced and under what technology thanks to an extensive document released by the Department of Communications.
Source: ZDNet Australia