Broadband News
Thu, 05th May 2016
Consumer advocate hammers Optus' 'bungled' EPL pricing plan
The backlash to Optus' steep pricing plan for its Premier League coverage continues, with consumer advocate Choice suggesting flying to England to watch a game live may be a cheaper option for Australian fans.
Source: ABC News
Wed, 04th May 2016
Optus announces EPL mobile, broadband data streaming plans
Optus will be streaming the 2016/17 English Premier League season on selected plans starting at AU$15 per month.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACMA crackdown enforces Do Not Call Register compliance
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) continues a crackdown on companies breaching the Do Not Call Register Act, with a financial services company – Premium Financial Services – hit with a $34,000 infringement notice after telemarketing calls were made in breach of the Act.
Source: iTWire
MyNetFone's Sugo says govt Budget inaction threatens NBN, telco industry viability
Rene Sugo, CEO and co-founder of telecommunications and network provider MNF Group – owner of retail telco MyNetFone – has criticised the Federal Government for not taking the opportunity to write-off part of the nbn build in Tuesday’s budget.
Source: iTWire
Online outrage as Optus releases Premier League pricing
Optus releases its pricing plan for its English Premier League coverage, prompting an online backlash from football fans in Australia.
Source: ABC News
Australian Federal Budget 2016: NBN still needs to raise money
What does Australia’s new federal Budget 2016 say about the NBN? Details within, with links to the documents so you can see for yourself.
Source: iTWire
The NBN Is Down To Its Final Year Of Public Funding
The government-owned company responsible for building the National Broadband Network receives its final piece of the initial allocation of its $29.5 billion in public funding in this year’s Budget, but any further cost over-runs might require more money from the taxpayer purse if private investment cannot be found.
Source: Gizmodo
Tue, 03rd May 2016
The NBN is about to run out of money
The federal government's final injection of public money into the national broadband network will run out at the end of the 2016-17 financial year, budget papers reveal.
Source: iTnews Australia
Budget 2016: NBN approaches limit of government funding
Barring disaster, this year’s federal budget will mark the final government injection of capital into NBN, with $8.8 billion earmarked for the National Broadband Network rollout.
Source: Computerworld
nbn delivers broadband to Macquarie Island Antarctic Division
The national broadband network has now extended its reach to one of Australia’s most remote territories – Macquarie Island, deep in the Southern Ocean and the base for the Australian Antarctic Division.
Source: iTWire
Mon, 02nd May 2016
Optus keeps mantle as most complained about telco
Optus now has twice the complaint ratio of the once-loathed Vodafone, while complaints for the entire industry are down 5.6 percent year-on-year.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Consumers getting raw deal on broadband services, ACCAN calls for government action
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is concerned about what it says is a lack of information available to consumers about broadband services and issues of performance and slow Internet speeds. The network now wants the Federal Government to fund an independent broadband monitoring program.
Source: iTWire
Optus launches new broadband bundles with unlimited data offers
Optus is touting the launch of new home broadband bundles which it says will “put an end to excess broadband stress” and which offer great value to its new and recontracting customers.
Source: iTWire
Telco services complaints up by 32.8% for March quarter
Complaints about telcos by consumers suffering faulty services and connection delays – particularly with Internet services – to the industry ombudsman in the three months to the end of March rose by 32.8%.
Source: iTWire
Telstra to spend $50m to prevent mobile network failures
Telstra will spend an additional $50 million on its mobile network in a bid to prevent ongoing outages that have left customers fuming.
Source: ABC News
Meet the new NBN boss, same as the old copper boss
Despite Australia spending decades moving away from a monopoly telecommunications provider, Telstra remains dominant in NBN services while the network appears stuck at 25Mbps.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra looks to return $1.5 billion to shareholders from Autohome sale
Telstra will return $1.5 billion to shareholders in a capital management program using the proceeds from the recent sale of its majority stake in Chinese online car sales business Autohome.
Source: iTWire
What's New On Netflix, Stan And Foxtel Anytime For May
From Game of Thrones, to original series Wolf Creek, to Ant-Man — here’s just a taste of what Netflix, Stan and Foxtel Anytime are streaming for the month of May.
Source: Gizmodo
Telstra spends $50 million on network recommendations
Telstra is committing an additional $50 million to implement new recommendations after conducting a review following recent mobile network disruptions.
Source: ARN
Sun, 01st May 2016
NBN Wholesale market: ‘initial’ ACCC report released
The initial quarterly NBN wholesale market indicators report for the period ending 31 March 2016 has been released by the ACCC.
Source: iTWire
ACCAN launches consumer guide for NBN satellite services
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has launched a guide to the nbn’s Sky Muster Internet services which it says will be useful for regional and remote consumers who have previously faced difficulties created by the lack of adequate services and exorbitant costs.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 29th Apr 2016
Only 37 percent of remote Australians use internet via smartphone: ACMA
While the use of internet has increased across the board in both capital cities and non-urban areas, there is still a disparity when it comes to access.
Source: ZDNet Australia
TPG buying highest speed NBN wholesale services
Australia's consumer watchdog has issued its first report on the state of play in the NBN wholesale market, revealing TPG is leading the pack in acquiring the highest speed NBN wholesale services.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN launches satellite services
Those living in rural and remote Australia will begin being connected to NBN's satellite service at a current rate of 5,000 premises per month.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN resellers get hands on satellite
NBN has launched its wholesale broadband satellite service Sky Muster.
Source: CRN
ACCC releases first report on nbn wholesale market
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has pulled together an initial quarterly nbn wholesale market indicators report for the period ending March 31.
Source: ARN
Consumers should be able to bypass geoblocking: Govt agency
The Federal Government's Productivity Commission is urging lawmakers to make it clear that using VPNs to bypass geoblocking is not piracy.
Source: ABC News
TPG commits to buckets of bandwidth
TPG is looking to expand bandwidth capacity to service the acceleration of traffic to the cloud.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN satellite 'world leading' for speed, data, pricing: Ovum
In an analysis based on data allowance, download speed, upload speed, and pricing per GB, NBN's satellite has been ranked ahead of other broadband satellite services worldwide.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus Prepaid Customers Can Now Stream Music Quota-Free
If you’re an Optus prepaid customer, there’s no reason to download your Spotify playlists to your phone any more. New and existing prepaid customers on Australia’s second largest mobile network will have uncapped, quota-free streaming of half a dozen different music services including Spotify and Google Play Music.
Source: Gizmodo