Broadband News
Wed, 15th Mar 2017
Nationwide outage downs Vodafone voice services
Vodafone customers across Australia have been unable to make or receive calls outside the telco's network since late Wednesday morning.
Source: iTnews Australia
Optus cutting off customers without warning, blaming NBN
Optus is cutting off cable customers' phones and broadband without warning, sometimes blaming NBN, as part of Optus' rush to shut down its HFC cable network in NBN-ready areas.
Source: SMH
Tue, 14th Mar 2017
NBN Co spins, to plant idea that upgrade was 'planned'
The NBN Co is back with another round of "facts", something in the same vein as those its chief Bill Morrow was spouting a few weeks back.
Source: iTWire
Mon, 13th Mar 2017
Web inventor wants Facebook, Google to lead the fight against 'fake news'
Tim Berners-Lee has suggested empowering the internet giants do more to combat the abundance of 'fake news' on their respective platforms.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra customers hit by webmail issues
Telstra customers have been experiencing problems with accessing email on the Web since Wednesday, 8 March, according to a number of Web forums.
Source: iTWire
Optus Threatens To Cut Customers Over NBN
Optus is ignoring the NBN's 18-month switchover commitment and threatening to cut off cable customers within weeks, using strongarm tactics to sign them up as Optus NBN customers before they can consider changing provider.
Source: Gizmodo
Fri, 10th Mar 2017
Telcos need to 'calm down' on 5G: Cisco ANZ CTO
Cisco ANZ's CTO has said telcos need to be more 'sober' about advancing towards 5G network technology while standards are still being discussed, or risk losing their investments.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN facing challenges from mobile and IoT: Cisco
While NBN is no longer 'behind the eight-ball', it is facing challenges from the connectivity speeds and ubiquitousness of mobile networks, as well as the question of how it will accommodate IoT, according to Cisco.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Australian government has no issue with agencies demanding telco data outside metadata laws
The Attorney-General's Department does not consider agencies using their own statutes to demand data from telcos as a loophole.
Source: ZDNet Australia
5G plans just hit the accelerator
The international body crafting the 5G standard has approved an accelerated roadmap that could see large-scale trials and deployments in 2019 instead of 2020.
Source: ARN
Optus threatens disconnection to sign up NBN customers and fast-track HFC cable shutdown
Optus is ignoring the NBN's 18-month switchover commitment and threatening to cut off cable customers within weeks, using strongarm tactics to sign them up as Optus NBN customers before they can consider changing provider.
Source: SMH
Thu, 09th Mar 2017
Telstra waves away concerns about 5G standards talks
Telstra has dismissed suggestions that backers of FDD-LTE like itself could take longer reaching a consensus on 5G standards, compared to carriers that use the TDD flavour of LTE.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fierce anger over potential use of metadata for civil suits
Australian citizens have lashed out at the federal government over the potential for information stored under the data retention regime to be opened up to civil lawsuits, lodging more than 200 submissions to a consultation.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra suggests scrapping ban on ‘metadata’ in lawsuits
A blanket ban on the use in lawsuits of data kept to comply with data retention obligations puts telecommunications providers in a difficult position, Telstra has argued.
Source: Computerworld
Australian broadband speed ranking drops again despite NBN rollout
Australia continues to lose ground in the global broadband connection speed race.
Source: ARN
Wed, 08th Mar 2017
Government agencies skirting metadata laws to access telco data: Comms Alliance
Agencies that lost their telecommunications data access privileges under the data retention legislation are still able to retrieve telco data, the Communications Alliance has said.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus launches first blackspot site with small cell
Optus has switched on the first blackspot under round two of the government's program, with a South Australian town receiving mobile reception for the first time thanks to a small cell installation.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN hints at skinny fibre for FttN upgrades to FttDP
NBN has said that it could eventually upgrade FttN users to FttDP technology by using skinny fibre to lengthen the fibre run, with FttN cabinets to be 'repurposed' for other uses at that time.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co puts initial FTTC cost at $2800 per premises
NBN Co has revealed an initial trial cost of “about $2800 per premises” to deploy its fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) technology, $628 above what it currently costs to roll out FTTN.
Source: iTnews Australia
nbn defends rollout plans amid FTTC furore
nbn has moved to quell calls for it to abandon its FTTN rollout amid plans to step up the footprint of its alternative FTTC technology.
Source: ARN
Tue, 07th Mar 2017
Most NBN users happy with service: Morrow
NBN Co chief executive Bill Morrow has hit back at reports of rising numbers of dissatisfied NBN end users, claiming that most end users of the National Broadband Network are happy with the service and that complaints are actually dropping.
Source: iTWire
Privacy Commissioner closes Westnet breach investigation
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has finalised its investigation into an allegations of a data breach in 2015 that involved iiNet subsidiary Westnet.
Source: Computerworld
Mon, 06th Mar 2017
NBN Co starts replacing FTTN in network rollout
NBN Co is starting to abandon future FTTN deployments in favour of newer fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) technology.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co masters the fixed-to-wireless flip
NBN Co has flipped 62 towns that were destined to receive FTTN connections under its original three-year construction plan onto fixed wireless or satellite connections.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co adds 2.6m premises into construction schedule
NBN Co has added over 2.6 million premises to its rollout schedule between now and mid-2019 - its first major project update since the original three-year construction plan was launched in late 2015.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fri, 03rd Mar 2017
SoleNet owner banned over dodgy telco dealings
Australian regulators have finally caught up with small-time telco vendor James Harrison, who was today banned from running a corporation for three years and fined $250,000 over the “unconscionable” operation of his group of telco companies
Source: iTnews Australia
Movie studios seek internet providers to block a further 74 piracy sites
A further 74 pirating sites such as Limetorrents, Putlocker, Kinogo, and Megashare could be added to the list of sites blocked by nearly 50 internet providers if movie studios succeed in their latest legal move to stop Australians streaming or downloading movies and television for free.
Source: SMH
Voice outage hits Vocus
A problem with Vocus’ voice wholesale platform downed services for the telcos’ customers, the company has confirmed.
Source: Computerworld
Thu, 02nd Mar 2017
Optus and Huawei attain 665Mbps speeds across 16 devices with Massive MIMO
Huawei and Optus have announced attaining throughput aggregate speeds of 665Mbps across 16 devices during a trial of Massive MIMO antenna technology.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra Brings Wi-Fi Calling To Samsung's Galaxy S7
If you've got a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge on the network without equal, you're in for a treat. Telstra has finally switched on Wi-Fi calling to offload your network activity onto a fast wireless connection. It's being rolled out as part of the Android 7.0 Nougat update being pushed to Aussie Telstra customers from today.
Source: Gizmodo