Broadband News

Tue, 08th Nov 2016

nbn delivery partners set to ramp up HFC rollout

nbn is set to lean on a raft of recently-signed delivery partners to ramp up the rate of its HFC connections in the second half of the year.

Source: ARN

NBN passes 1 million FTTN/B premises

NBN Co has passed a milestone for premises connected to its fibre-to-the-node and fibre-to-the-basement networks, with more than 1 million homes and business now able to take up a service.

Source: iTnews Australia

Broad industry support for NBN pricing revamp, Bill Morrow says

NBN CEO Bill Morrow says there is “broad-based support” among National Broadband Network retail service providers (RSP) for a shift to a modified discount scheme for the capacity-based CVC charge.

Source: Computerworld

Mon, 07th Nov 2016

Australian intellectual property laws won't be changed for TPP: Government

No changes will be made to Australia's intellectual property laws, and the US government has not raised any concerns about ISP liability for copyright infringement in Australia, the government has said.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Pressure mounts on Government over Norfolk Island calls for cable link

The Norfolk Island Accommodation and Tourism Association -- the peak body for the island's largest industry – has weighed into the debate over the island’s demands to be connected to the Hawaiki fibre-optic cable to boost Internet and broadband services.

Source: iTWire

Government welcomes ‘strong growth’ in NBN connections

The Federal Government has welcomed the ACCC’s release of a report on the demand for wholesale broadband services provided by the national Broadband Network, particularly the 25% growth in purchase of capacity – or connectivity virtual circuits (CVC) - by wholesalers in one quarter.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 04th Nov 2016

NBN doubles capex spending to AU$4.5b in FY2016

NBN's regulatory documents have revealed a capex spend during FY16 of AU$4.52 billion, up 108 percent from last year's AU$2.17 billion, with opex rising by 42 percent to AU$2.26 billion.

Source: ZDNet Australia

The ISP 'For Gamers' Comes To Australia With A $60 Unlimited NBN Plan

MyRepublic, touting itself as the ISP "for gamers", hits Australia on 15 November with a 100Mbps unlimted NBN plan for $59.99 per month. Here's everything we know so far.

Source: Gizmodo

Amaysim holds 30 percent of MVNO market, hits 1m customers

The Amaysim group has grown to contain almost 30 percent of the MVNO market with just over 1 million customers.

Source: ZDNet Australia

MyRepublic launches NBN services at highest speeds possible

Spruiking its broadband service as the only one that was purpose-built for the NBN, MyRepublic is offering customers unlimited downloads on the highest speed possible.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Can MyRepublic change the broadband landscape in Australia?

MyRepublic CEO, Malcolm Rodrigues, claims his company's launch in Australia will change the shape of the local ISP landscape.

Source: ARN

Thu, 03rd Nov 2016

Telstra tests Cat-M1 4G modem with Ericsson, Qualcomm across 700MHz

Ericsson, Telstra, and Qualcomm have successfully tested a Cat-M1 4G modem designed specifically for low-power, low-cost IoT use cases.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Productivity Commission wants to hear why governments shouldn't have your data

Amid its recommendations for an overhaul in how data is collected and handled in Australia, the Productivity Commission has said there is not widespread concern with handing data over to governments.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Foxtel Over The NBN Could Cost You $240 A Month

Foxtel has just launched itself head-first into the 21st century. The long-time cable subscription telly business has started offering its triple-play broadband, TV and home phone bundle packages to customers covered by the fibre to the premises portion of the country's national broadband network, and will let any customers on its ADSL plans transition to the NBN without having to re-jig their contracts. But it's pricy.

Source: Gizmodo

Foxtel begins offering fibre services over NBN

Foxtel has begun offering fibre to the premises (FTTP) services over the National Broadband Network, the pay TV provider announced today.

Source: Computerworld

Wed, 02nd Nov 2016

Mobile and tablet internet usage surpasses desktop for first time: StatCounter

Global internet usage on smartphones and tablets exceeded desktop usage for the first time, according to October statistics from web analytics firm StatCounter.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Optus Business launches cyber security operations centre in Sydney

Optus Business has extended its cyber security capabilities with the opening of its first security operations centre in Australia following a $10 million investment.

Source: ARN

Number of NBN gigabit premises halves as network stuck on 25Mbps or less

Only 13 premises in Australia now have access to a 1Gbps FttP connection, while users continue to go for 25/5Mbps and 12/1Mbps plans.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra taps half of Australia’s NBN wholesale access services

​Telstra claims almost half of Australia’s NBN wholesale access services in Australia, according to the latest quarterly report on the network by the country’s competition watchdog.

Source: ARN

Tue, 01st Nov 2016

Vodafone Australia and Nokia announce mobile edge computing prototype

Vodafone and Nokia are looking to 4G-powered mobile edge computing to improve public safety through network function virtualisation applications.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Mon, 31st Oct 2016

Telstra eyes entry into drone market

Telstra is planning to expand its use of drones both internally and as part of “viable products and services” for external sale.

Source: iTnews Australia

What's New On Netflix, Stan And Foxtel Anytime For November

From Ash Vs Evil Dead, to The Wire and Gilmore Girls -- here's just a taste of what Netflix, Stan and Foxtel Anytime are streaming for the month of November.

Source: Gizmodo

Fri, 28th Oct 2016

Vodafone complaints climb higher than Telstra's

Vodafone has attributed its sudden jump in consumer complaints to the Ombudsman on 'administrative matters', although it experienced an outage this quarter.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Turnbull pins Census outage on IBM, again

​Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has once again taken IBM to task over its role in the 2016 Census website outage.

Source: ARN

Complaints increase for Vodafone, amaysim and Pivotel

Vodafone, amaysim, and Pivotel look like chumps in the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s (TIO) latest assessment of complaints per services in operation (SIO).

Source: ARN

Thu, 27th Oct 2016

Dyn DDoS attack came from 100,000 infected devices

DNS Service provider Dyn said that Friday's massive internet disruption came from hackers using an estimated 100,000 devices, many of which have been infected with a notorious malware that can take over cameras and DVRs.

Source: ARN

Hanson backs call for Hawaiki Cable extension to Norfolk Island

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson has called on the Australian government to back the extension of the Hawaiki Cable to Norfolk Island.

Source: Computerworld

Wed, 26th Oct 2016

ISPs facilitate piracy and should have to pay: Rights holders

The final day of the piracy site-blocking hearing saw the music studios argue that ISPs are sufficiently proximate to the infringement of copyright to have to bear legal and compliance costs.

Source: ZDNet Australia

ACCC seeks feedback on mobile roaming row

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has given telecommunications providers, consumers and lobby groups, one month to state their case for or against domestic mobile roaming.

Source: ARN

Vocus completes AU$861m acquisition of Nextgen Networks

Vocus is now the owner of Nextgen Networks, as well as two subsea cable systems, expanding its fibre network by tens of thousands of kilometres across Australia.

Source: ZDNet Australia