Broadband News
Thu, 07th Apr 2016
'Malcolm Turnbull, you didn't invent the internet': Waleed Aly slams PM's NBN hypocrisy
Waleed Aly has taken aim at the hypocrisy of Malcolm Turnbull's "age of innovation" aspirations as leaked documents reveal significant delays to the government's NBN roll out.
Source: SMH
Wed, 06th Apr 2016
Aussie data downloads boom to 1.7 exabytes
Australian broadband users downloaded a whopping 1.7 million terabytes (1.7 exabytes) of data in the last three months of 2015, an increase by half on the end of 2014
Source: iTnews Australia
Optus out to snatch new subscribers from competitors
Optus is looking to lure mobile users to switch from other mobile providers with a new offering of 30-days free usage – and a raft of incentives - to customers who sign up to a new postpaid mobile plan.
Source: iTWire
New ‘innovative’ cable technology to cut NBN rollout costs
A new line of 'innovative' cables, using FlexTube technology, are set to halve the cost of joining cables as the National Broadband Network (nbn) rollout continues across Australia.
Source: iTWire
Optus calls for rethink of NBN pricing scheme
The changing usage patterns of Australian broadband customers means that one of the key revenue streams for NBN — the Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) charge — needs a major rethink, according to Optus’ head of regulatory affairs, David Epstein.
Source: Computerworld
Labor Minister Favours Fibre To The Distribution Point For NBN
With a Fibre To The Distribution Point (FTTdp) NBN model, fibre is run to the street lead-in pit at the front of the building, where it joins up with an existing copper lead-in of around 30 metres. It avoids the need to dig up your front yard, promises high speeds via VDSL2, has the ability to be upgraded to Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), boasts a network capability almost up there with full FTTP and yet — due to the use of existing copper lead-ins — costs less. Shadow Communications Minister Jason Clare recently sung the praises of FTTdp, leading to questions about a potential change in NBN policy from FTTP for the Labor party’s election campaign.
Source: Gizmodo
Vodafone to launch Voice over WiFi ‘shortly’, CEO says
Vodafone is preparing to offer Voice over Wi-FI – VoWIFI – to its customers “shortly”, the telco’s CEO, Iñaki Berroeta, yesterday told the CommsDay Summit in Sydney.
Source: Computerworld
Tue, 05th Apr 2016
Telco industry slams NBN CVC pricing
NBN's newly announced plans to calculate its CVC on an industry-wide basis has been met with criticism by Optus, Vocus, and Superloop.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Clare's NBN criticisms fall flat as industry tires of technology debate
Optus, Nokia, Vocus, and NBN have complained that the NBN technology debate needs to stop, with companies to instead focus on how to realise its benefits.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Vodafone 4G Now Reaches 23 Million Australians
Vodafone has increased its 4G network by more than 20 per cent to now reach 95 per cent of Australians. This puts it in second place for 4G coverage in Australia, behind Telstra 4G at 96 per cent of the population and ahead of Optus 4G at 90 per cent of the population.
Source: Gizmodo
NBN: Stop the nodes, Clare says
Shadow communications minister Jason Clare has used a speech at the CommsDay Summit in Sydney to launch a stinging attack on the use of fibre to the node (FTTN) technology in the National Broadband Network rollout.
Source: Computerworld
Vocus Communications makes nbn easy option for partners
Telecommunications company, Vocus Communications, has launched a new product, adapted from the M2 product suite, marking the integration of the two companies.
Source: ARN
Vodafone releases Mobile Black Spot Programme schedule
Vodafone has released the rollout schedule for its 70 base stations to be built in regional areas of New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria under the first round of the Mobile Black Spot Programme.
Source: ARN
Quickflix hoping to save AU$1m through redundancies, office closures
The streaming service is again cost cutting, announcing a 15 percent reduction in staff members, the closure of two offices, and a decrease in its executives' salaries.
Source: ZDNet Australia
nbn sets new CVC discount pricing model to encourage ‘enhanced broadband experience’
The nbn, which is building Australia’s broadband network, has announced a new tiered model for its wholesale Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) charge with a price as low as $11.50 depending on the average CVC bandwidth that industry provisions to all end users.
Source: iTWire
NBN pushes ahead with price cuts
NBN will push ahead with a discounting scheme for one of the major charges it levies on retail service providers (RSPs) that sell services over the National Broadband Network.
Source: Computerworld
Mon, 04th Apr 2016
Optus Is Cutting 480 Jobs To Focus On 'Content'
Optus is making up to 480 jobs redundant across Australia in a move to streamline its business. “Sustainable growth” is the company’s buzzword for the cuts, but they come at a time when Vodafone and Telstra are pressuring their competitor and attracting customers away with competitive mobile plans.
Source: Gizmodo
Vodafone completes rollout of 4G across its network
Vodafone has completed rolling out 4G across its network the telco said today. All of the telco’s 850MHz spectrum has been re-farmed to help boost 4G coverage.
Source: Computerworld
Cause of Telstra’s mobile outages ‘common to all networks’, telco says
Telstra this morning defended the performance of its mobile network following outages in February and March.
Source: Computerworld
Telstra free data guy clocks up almost a terabyte of downloads
When Telstra offered its mobile customers unlimited data for two separate days this year as compensation for network outages, some customers took it as a challenge to download as much as they possibly could in one day.
Source: SMH
New NBN leaks reveal further delays
Two new documents have leaked from the NBNco, and they show just how far the network have fallen behind schedule.
Source: PC Authority
ACCC takes Sydney ISP to Federal Court
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has started legal action against Sydney-based ISP SoleNet and its director James Harrison for alleged “unconscionable conduct” and “undue harassment” in selling telecommunications services.
Source: CRN
Telstra customers download almost 50pc more than first free data day
Telstra responds to customer complaints of slow download speeds after its free data day yesterday, which saw the most amount of data downloaded in 24-hours on the company's mobile network.
Source: ABC News
Telstra outage review: Increase capacity, traffic protection across network
Telstra's COO has said the ongoing review into its three mobile outages has yielded several plans to increase and augment its signalling capacity, improve traffic management, and better manage any issues.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra customers smash previous record for mobile data traffic
Telstra customers set a new record on 3 April by downloading 2686 terabytes of data using the telco’s mobile network.
Source: Computerworld
Telstra’s 3 April free data day: fast and slow, previous record busted
Telstra’s latest free data day saw initially fast download speeds, but as the day wore on, things got slower and slower, with downloaded data amounts breaking a new record.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 01st Apr 2016
James Cook Uni connects the Daintree rainforest to the NBN
Queensland’s James Cook University is just weeks away from connecting more than 600 sensors at its Daintree Rainforest Observatory to the NBN, giving researchers access to real-time data and video feeds from the forest.
Source: iTnews Australia
Hawaiki 30Tbps trans-pacific subsea cable commences construction
The privately owned and 'carrier neutral' high-capacity subsea cable connecting Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and the US West Coast has commenced construction.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Don't Forget Telstra's Free Data Day This Sunday
As a way of saying sorry — again — for the massive network outage on 20 March, Telstra is offering free data to customers on 3 April.
Source: Gizmodo
Thu, 31st Mar 2016
Australian feds cannot tell senator if they have his metadata
The Australian Federal Police has refused to say whether politicians, political staffers, or journalists have had their metadata preserved or accessed in the past year.
Source: ZDNet Australia