Broadband News
Tue, 17th May 2016
Business confidence in Telstra eroding through repeated outages
The year 2016 has brutally claimed many scalps. It's also the year Telstra's credibility as a stable network provider powering the largest Australian network died.
Source: iTWire
Macquarie 4G upgrade offer to mobile customers
Macquarie Telecom is upgrading all of its mobile phone customers to 4G if they already use Telstra’s mobile network.
Source: iTWire
IoT: Vodafone partners with Huawei for narrowband trials
Vodafone has carried out wireless network trials using the emerging Narrow Band-IoT (NB-IoT) standard.
Source: Computerworld
How's the NBN rollout going in your electorate? Search the full data
After well-publicised cost blowouts and delays, the NBN will be offering significantly faster internet speeds across Australia by 2020. How's the rollout going in your patch?
Source: ABC News
Mon, 16th May 2016
Vodafone hops on election backwagon for mobile blackspot campaign
People living in remote areas should persuade their federal candidates of the need for more mobile blackspot funding, according to Vodafone.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telcos continue to help consumers with financial hardship problems: ACMA
Communications regulator the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says telcos are continuing to deal with consumers experiencing financial hardship in a way that remains largely compliant with their obligations under the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code.
Source: iTWire
Optus opening 126 small business specialist stores, SMB call centre
Optus is kicking off an SMB support campaign through the introduction of more than 100 specialist stores, a call centre, and improved support services.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Fri, 13th May 2016
Telstra customers lose NBN services in NSW
Telstra customers lost access to their NBN services in NSW this afternoon in another network problem for the country's biggest telco.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra DNS outage causes customer grief
Telstra suffered a nationwide network outage last night, as two of its internet domain name servers ceased to respond to queries from thousands of customer systems.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 12th May 2016
Foxtel ratings win crown in Season 6 Game of Thrones premiere
The final numbers are in for the GoT Season 6 premiere viewership, and they’ve definitively topped over 1.2 million viewers - numbers fit for a king!
Source: iTWire
Profits up, but Optus revenues hit by ACCC call fee changes
Optus has suffered a drop in revenue after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission changed mobile call fees, but the company says the impact on profitability has been ‘minimal”.
Source: iTWire
Optus sees revenue and profit lift
Telco, Optus has reported operating revenue increased four per cent to $9.12 billion, EBITDA grew six per cent to $2.77 billion and annual net profit rose seven per cent to $901 million for the full financial year ending March 31.
Source: ARN
Tue, 10th May 2016
NBN suspends Tasmania west coast rollout as region lobbies for fibre over satellite
The NBN has called a halt to the rollout of its service to Tasmania's west coast until it has clarity on exactly what service it is being asked to roll out.
Source: ABC News
Mon, 09th May 2016
Telstra building more fibre, subsea cables across Asia-Pacific
Telstra has announced four new projects for improving its subsea cable system in Asia, including a Taiwan-Hong Kong fibre route and a fibre ring in South Korea.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Vodafone to pay $594.3 million for spectrum
Vodafone is to shell out $594.3 million to buy 2 x 10 MHz of the unsold 700 MHz spectrum after previously withdrawing from the auction to acquire spectrum in the 700MHz range supporting mobile broadband coverage in regional Australia.
Source: iTWire
Optus launches VoLTE across Australian capital cities
Samsung post-paid users living in major cities will get to use Optus' 4G network to make voice calls.
Source: ZDNet Australia
What A Time To Be Alive: You Can Now Have Your Face On An NBN Satellite Rocket
The NBN’s second satellite, Sky Muster II, is launching in a rocket that will have a unique feature — artwork with the faces of 1,210 Australians.
Source: Gizmodo
Optus gets on board VoLTE rollout
Telecommunications company, Optus, has commenced rollout of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) across its 4G Plus mobile network in Australia’s major capital cities.
Source: ARN
ACMA review proposes 'full-stack' comms regulation
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) could be given a deeper remit to cover all layers of the communications sector if the recommendations of a government review are enacted.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fri, 06th May 2016
FTTN revenue begins to trickle in for NBN
For the first time since the technology launched last year, NBN has recorded revenue from fibre to the node (FTTN). Albeit only a trickle, even by the standards of the still-under-construction National Broadband Network.
Source: Computerworld
Telstra argues against compliance costs for piracy website blocking
The cost of complying with court orders to block The Pirate Bay and other piracy websites -- which TPG put at AU$50 per DNS block, and M2 put at AU$800 maximum in total -- is being disputed by Telstra.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN announces AU$1.95b loss
NBN's revenue and assets have grown alongside its loss as the network's rollout picks up speed.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Foxtel, Village and ISPs yet to agree on the cost of blocking pirate sites
TPG (including subsidiaries such as iiNet), Telstra, Optus and M2 have confirmed they don’t intend to oppose Federal Court applications by Foxtel and Village Roadshow that seek to have the ISPs block their customers access a collection of piracy-linked websites.
Source: Computerworld
nbn on track to meet its financial year plan: Bill Morrow
nbn has revealed its third quarter results, showing a total revenue $111 million, an increase of more than 158 per cent versus the previous corresponding period in fiscal year 2015.
Source: ARN
Mobile resellers granted three years mercy for roaming rules
Mobile network resellers have been declared exempt from international mobile roaming standards for another three years.
Source: CRN
Thu, 05th May 2016
Over 150 data retention plans approved without finalised compensation model
Despite being legally bound to implement a warrantless data-retention scheme, the Australian Attorney-General's Department has maintained there is a 'spirit of cooperation' with industry.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus looks to lock in EPL fans with new bundles
Fans of the English Premier League (EPL) hoping for a more egalitarian delivery method for the world’s largest football competition are sure to be disappointed after Optus outlined its plans for the 2016/17 season.
Source: ARN
Optus faces backlash from Australian fans over English Premier League pricing options
Australian soccer fans have slammed Optus for its English Premier League packages, pricing and lack of availability to non-Optus customers, after the telco released its pricing plan on Wednesday.
Source: SMH
ACMA makes changes to mobile roaming standards
Mobile phone users travelling overseas now have the choice of opting out of receiving roaming usage alerts from telcos and their phone service providers now have more flexibility in the ways they offer customers the ability to decline mobile roaming services.
Source: iTWire
How Optus Stole The English Premier League From Foxtel
The news many football fans feared was confirmed yesterday: you will have to sign up to Optus to watch the English Premier League from next season.
Source: Gizmodo