Broadband News

Tue, 04th Oct 2016

Telstra could lose national emergency alerts deal

Telstra will have to fight to keep a contract to deliver the Australian emergency alert service to all mobile phones and landlines across the country after the deal was opened back up to the market.

Source: iTnews Australia

ACCC declares Telstra's mass systems remediation complete

Telstra has finally achieved compliance with the structural separation undertaking (SSU) it signed four years ago after completing a large-scale remediation program that spanned 42 IT systems.

Source: iTnews Australia

Foxtel Play's Massive Makeover Means Cheaper Game Of Thrones

Foxtel Play is getting a massive makeover in December of this year. Presto customers will be moved across, prices will be cut to as little as $10 per month to attract more customers, and more content will be added to a simplified tier structure including sport and HBO entertainment like Game Of Thrones.

Source: Gizmodo

MyNetFone strikes MVNO deal with Telstra

MNF Group, whose brands include MyNetFone and voice carrier Symbio Networks, will begin offering 3G and 4G services using Telstra’s mobile network.

Source: Computerworld

Telstra trials connected car technology in South Australia

Telstra has teamed up with intelligent transport systems company, Cohda Wireless, in trialing Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technology over Telstra’s 4G network in South Australia.

Source: ARN

Presto streaming service to vanish into Foxtel Play

Presto will disappear early next year as Seven West Media sells its stake to joint venture partner Foxtel, which plans to shut the service and direct customers to its own online video streaming service.

Source: ABC News

Mon, 03rd Oct 2016

AFL grand final fans hit Telstra mobile network with massive traffic boost

Fans at Saturday’s AFL grand final generated a massive 2.3 terabytes of traffic on the Telstra mobile network using their mobile phones and other devices to stream video, browse the Internet, upload photos to social media and receive and make telephone calls.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 30th Sep 2016

Vodafone Australia shutting down 2G network in 2017

Following Telstra by two years and Optus by one year, Vodafone has finally announced the closure of its 2G network in September next year.

Source: ZDNet Australia

What’s happening with the NBN, Optus, and HFC?

NBN quietly announced yesterday that it would no longer be attempting to utilise Optus’s HFC network in its makeup. Instead, it would utilise the much touted “compromise” technology – Fibre To the Distribution Point (FTTdp) in up to 700,000 households – which effectively extends the fibre point to the house boundary and utilises copper for the final 10-50 metres. The use of Optus’s network would be restricted to the heavily re-engineered launch site in Redcliffe, QLD, and effectively abandoned outside of that area.

Source: PC Authority

Ziggy wins second term as NBN chair

The federal government has reappointed Ziggy Switkowski as the chair of NBN Co for another three years, keeping him in the role until just prior to the slated 2020 completion of the NBN rollout.

Source: iTnews Australia

Ziggy Switkowski reappointed NBN chair

The government has reappointed Dr Ziggy Switkowski as chair of NBN’s board.

Source: Computerworld

Telstra to cut up to 300 roles from retail business

Around 300 jobs will be cut from Telstra’s retail business, with the company confirming that redundancies may follow from the proposed reduction.

Source: ARN

Vodafone bids farewell to 2G network

Vodafone Hutchison Australia will shut down its legacy 2G network by September next year.

Source: ARN

Thu, 29th Sep 2016

Melbourne activates free Wi-Fi network across CBD

Melbourne, Ballarat, and Bendigo citizens and visitors can now receive access to free Wi-Fi under a joint project between the Victorian government and TPG.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Internet Australia applauds NBN move from HFC to FTTdp

Internet Australia, the peak body representing Internet users, has applauded NBN’s decision not to use the “old Optus Pay-TV cables” and adopt a fibre to the distribution point (FTTdp) solution.

Source: iTWire

Wed, 28th Sep 2016

NBN Co dumps Optus HFC for FTTdp

NBN Co has ditched plans to use the bulk of Optus' hybrid-fibre coaxial (HFC) network and will instead deploy fibre-to-the-distribution point (FTTdp) technology to around 700,000 premises nationwide.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus welcomes NBN decision on HFC

Optus has said it welcomes a decision by NBN to roll out fibre to the distribution point (FTTdp) in areas covered by the telco’s hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network.

Source: Computerworld

NBN moves away from Optus HFC in network rollout

​Nbn is considering FTTdp connection for over 700,000 premises previously earmarked for connection to the NBN via existing Optus HFC infrastructure and FTTN technology.

Source: ARN

Tue, 27th Sep 2016

Optus Went Down In Melbourne Today

A “technical issue” with Optus’ 3G network caused mobile customers across some parts of Melbourne and regional Victoria to experience difficulty making calls, sending texts and using data today.

Source: Gizmodo

Just how addicted are Aussies to the internet?

A full third of Australians go online while at the toilet, according to a new study by nbn.

Source: ARN

Vodafone follows in Telstra's footsteps with 2GB free data for outage

Despite making light of Telstra's free data days earlier this year, Vodafone has responded to its own network outage with a gift of 2GB of extra data for all mobile customers.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN Co 'overdoes it’ with new stats and double entendres

Someone is frisky at NBN Co, obsessed with "doing it" alongside reporting Australia’s "love affair with the Internet is growing".

Source: iTWire

Happy 1st Birthday, Fibre To The Node

It’s the first birthday of NBN’s fibre to the node rollout. Birthday cake. Candles. Everybody sing.

Source: Gizmodo

Vodafone Australia customers get bonus data following outage

Vodafone Australia left some of its customers without mobile service for a few hours on the evening of Sunday, September 25, which it attributed to router issues.

Source: ARN

Mon, 26th Sep 2016

Router problem behind Vodafone network outage

A problem with a router disrupted 4G services on Vodafone’s mobile network yesterday evening.

Source: Computerworld

Vodafone Australia confirms mobile outage caused by router issue

A router issue resulted in Vodafone customers being unable to use data over 4G services, with resulting congestion over 2G and 3G voice and text messaging services then occurring.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Fri, 23rd Sep 2016

MNF tries to reverse 'sub-scale' NBN reach

MNF Group is looking to reverse its “sub-scale” NBN reach by increasing its national coverage and potentially buying “additional subscriber bases”.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN anticipates updated CVC model in 2017

NBN is kicking off another round of CVC pricing consultations with industry, with a new model to be implemented during the second half of the financial year.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra adds 1,000 roles for communications technicians

In a bid to improve fault repair and installation timeframes, Telstra has added 1,000 communications technician roles across Australia.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Thu, 22nd Sep 2016

NBN has given Telstra 'the gift of urgency': Elop

The revenue lost from the NBN, and the contracts that can be made with the company rolling it out, is a 'gift of certainty and urgency', former Nokia CEO and now head of Telstra Innovation Stephen Elop has said.

Source: ZDNet Australia