Broadband News

Wed, 11th Jan 2017

Council pushes ahead with 10Gbps network plan for Adelaide

Adelaide’s Ten Gigabit City plan is a step closer, with the council seeking formal expressions of interest (EOI) for the project.

Source: Computerworld

Ehealth: AMA call for bush broadband boost

The Australian Medical Association has called on the government to tackle barriers to the use of ehealth and telemedicine in rural and regional Australia.

Source: Computerworld

Tue, 10th Jan 2017

Doctors underwhelmed by NBN for e-health

Australian GPs have delivered a lukewarm assessment of the NBN as an enabler of e-health services in regional, rural and remote Australia, just days after the network builder publicly talked up its credentials in the space.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co readies pitch to 'high-value' business users

NBN Co is readying its staff and systems to begin migrating “high-value” business customers off the Telstra network and onto its own.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus adds NBN HFC to wholesale offerings

Customers of Optus Wholesale will be able to sell services over the National Broadband Network’s hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) infrastructure, the telco has announced.

Source: Computerworld

Optus Wholesale expands NBN offering

Optus Wholesale is expanding its wholesale NBN offering by launching state-based, national and hybrid aggregation models.

Source: ARN

Sydney Buses' free Wi-Fi won't threaten privacy: State Transit Authority

NSW Transport officials have dismissed claims free Wi-Fi on Sydney Buses will become a data mining exercise, invading the privacy of passengers.

Source: SMH

The ACCC Has Decided How Much Accessing Superfast Broadband Networks Should Cost Providers

Back in October 2012, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission declared a local bitstream access service (LBAS), then in July 2016, a superfast broadband access service (SBAS). This means that the network owners must provide access to the service if requested, so that all service providers have access to the infrastructure they need "to supply competitive communications services to end-users".

Source: Gizmodo

Mon, 09th Jan 2017

Telstra pushes for 5G that works in Australia

There's an unexpected obstacle worrying Telstra as it prepares for the next generation of ultra-fast mobile technology: gumtrees.

Source: SMH

Sydney buses trial free Wi-Fi as provider collects and discloses personal user info

The NSW government has announced that free Wi-Fi will be provided in a trial across 50 buses, using a network provider that openly collects a vast amount of user data and passes it onto third parties.

Source: ZDNet Australia

ACCC seeks to match ‘superfast’ broadband prices to NBN charges

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released its proposal for wholesale pricing and conditions that will apply to so-called ‘superfast’ — 25 megabits per second or faster — broadband networks that are independent of the National Broadband Network.

Source: Computerworld

ACCC gives small broadband providers a boost in pricing decision

The ACCC aims to normalise pricing between NBN and non-NBN services for smaller providers, with its latest draft pricing determination.

Source: ARN

Vocus plugs Aussie leadership gap with M2 veteran

Vocus has moved to plug an impending leadership gap with non-executive director, Michael Simmons, who will temporarily head up the company’s corporate and wholesale business in Australia.

Source: ARN

Fri, 06th Jan 2017

A new Wi-Fi spec will help smart homes run like clockwork

On Thursday at CES, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced Wi-Fi Certified TimeSync, a specification for precise time synchronization among Wi-Fi devices. It’s expected to be available in the middle of this year.

Source: Computerworld

Sydney buses to trial sponsored wi-fi

A sponsored wi-fi service will be trialled on 50 public buses in Sydney, with potential for the technology to be fitted to 1000 buses by the end of the year.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 05th Jan 2017

Intel announces 5G modem at CES

Following Qualcomm's announcement in October, Intel has jumped on the 5G modem bandwagon, unveiling its solution at CES on Wednesday.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Wed, 04th Jan 2017

Telstra backs calls to relax line-of-sight for drone flights

Telstra has thrown its weight behind calls to allow drones to operate in Australia beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of a pilot.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 03rd Jan 2017

NBN: Four months to move 18k satellite customers to Sky Muster, fixed-wireless

Despite only connecting 29,760 customers to Sky Muster between April and October, NBN left itself just four months to shift over the 18,000 customers remaining on the old satellite service.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Brandis extends submission deadline on telco data retention for civil proceedings

After giving just 15 business days over the holiday period for submissions on whether to allow retained telco data to be used for civil proceedings, Brandis has extended the timeframe by two weeks.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Mon, 02nd Jan 2017

What's New On Netflix And Stan For January

From Sherlock, to Captain America. Civil War - here's just a taste of what Netflix and Stan are streaming for the month of January.

Source: Gizmodo

Wed, 28th Dec 2016

Vodafone boosts 4G network for New Year's Eve

Vodafone Australia is pushing out temporary cells on wheels to boost mobile coverage over the holiday period in high-traffic areas around Sydney Harbour.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Fri, 23rd Dec 2016

TIO board shake-up sees ex-iiNet CTO join

Former iiNet and Internode CTO John Lindsay will sit on the board of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) next year.

Source: iTnews Australia

Australians Predicted To Download 1,100 TB Of Data On Christmas Day

Y'all are going to use a whole lot of data this Christmas, according to Telstra. Twice as much as last year, in fact.

Source: Gizmodo

Thu, 22nd Dec 2016

Data usage hits a high on Telstra mobile network

Mobile phone and mobile device users flooded Telstra’s mobile network with 76% more data this year that they did in 2015, with the time of the power outages that blacked out much of South Australia topping the telco’s list for data usage in a 24-hour period.

Source: iTWire

​Convenience trumps security with Australian public Wi-Fi habits: RMIT

Around 2 million Australians are accessing internet banking on public Wi-Fi networks, a study by RMIT University has found.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Fibre-To-The-Curb NBN Is Coming To Sydney And Melbourne

The company overseeing the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout has signed a number of deals for the implementation of fibre to around 525,000 premises in Sydney and Melbourne. Most of them will be served by fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC). Here are the details.

Source: Gizmodo

Wed, 21st Dec 2016

NBN updates rollout map for most Australians

Australians are now able to enter their address to see when they will be connected to the NBN, unless they are on HFC.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Brandis rushes to release telco metadata for civil proceedings

Australia's attorney-general has allowed just 15 working days over summer for submissions on a proposed massive expansion of access to retained telco user data.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN Co's FTTdp to come first to Sydney and Melbourne

NBN Co has signed three new deals with construction partners Downer EDI, Service Stream, and Fulton Hogan to build the first set of fibre-to-the-distribution point (FTTdp) connections.

Source: iTnews Australia

Service Stream picks up new nbn build contract

​Network services provider, Service Stream, is among three companies to win a slew of new network build contracts with nbn.

Source: ARN