Broadband News
Fri, 18th Mar 2016
Telstra CEO Andrew Penn personally apologises to Telstra customers for mobile outage
I had wondered why Telstra CEO Andrew Penn hadn’t personally apologised to his customers, but minutes ago, he did just that.
Source: iTWire
Telstra Says Sorry For Outage With Another Day Of Free Data
At around 6pm last night, reports of outages on the Telstra network — again — started to emerge. The network began sporadically working again from 7:30pm onwards, and for the inconvenience Telstra are giving away a day of free data next Sunday.
Source: Gizmodo
Telstra apologises, offers free data day after four-hour blackout
The telco apologises for a network outage that affected up to 8 million customers, vowing to provide a free data day as compensation.
Source: ABC News
Thu, 17th Mar 2016
Telstra 'progressively restoring' mobile services after outage
Telstra says it is progressively restoring mobile services after an outage earlier impacted its mobile customers.
Source: ABC News
Nationwide outage hits Telstra's mobile network
Telstra customers lost access to their mobile services for most of Thursday night, just over a month after an "embarrassing human error" took out mobile, home phone and internet services Australia-wide.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN announces FttDP trials across Sydney, Melbourne
NBN will be trialling its FttDP network technology in hopes of deploying it to around 300,000 premises.
Source: ZDNet Australia
nbn announces FttdP trial next month
National Broadband Network provider nbn has announced a field trial of Fibre to the Distribution Point (FttdP) technology to commence in April. The new technology is largely targeted at homes in rural areas with long distances between the curb and the premises and is expected to be deployed in 2017.
Source: iTWire
Optus announces EPL broadcasting via Fetch, apps, website
The telco has laid out its plans to return to sports broadcasting, an area it has not been involved with since the Australian pay TV battles of the '90s.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra Donates 20,000 Smartphones To 'Safe Connections' Domestic Violence Program
Telstra today joined the Federal Government and Women’s Services Network (WESNET) to announce an expansion of the Safe Connections program, providing up to 20,000 safe smartphones over three years for women experiencing domestic violence.
Source: Gizmodo
How Foxtel killed Yournet, the ISP that promised inbuilt US Netflix
It was meant to be the fix for Aussies fed up with getting a raw deal on online content — an internet service provider that let mums and dads sneak into the US Netflix library without needing to know a thing about virtual private networks or Smart DNS.
Source: SMH
Wed, 16th Mar 2016
An FttDP NBN is within reach, but no one wants to touch it yet
Stuck under a government that is ideologically attached to FttN, and an opposition that persists in remaining silent, an interim solution to NBN woes is just waiting for someone to own it.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACCC gives draft approval for NBN revenue, pricing, cost recovery
The ACCC has approved NBN's FY15 revenue, capex, opex, and pricing, as well as a proposal that provides NBN with the opportunity to recover an additional AU$6.4 million as uptake increases.
Source: ZDNet Australia
JB Hi-Fi turns its salesforce into NBN experts
JB Hi-Fi is training sales leaders from across its 7,000-strong workforce to resell Telstra NBN services, CRN can reveal.
Source: CRN
NBN HFC Rollout Known Internally As 'Operation Clusterf***': Conroy
The rollout of the hybrid-fibre coaxial (HFC) part of the troubled national broadband network is known internally as “Operation Clusterf—“, says Labor senator Stephen Conroy. “I know the internal nickname you’ve got for the HFC rollout, and it’s not fit to actually describe on the public record: Operation Cluster … something,” Mr Conroy told NBN chief executive Bill Morrow during a heated exchange at a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Source: Gizmodo
NBN prices are OK says ACCC
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has determined that the National Broadband Network company’s prices are not too high and that the government owned company responsible for administering the NBN is earning revenue within allowable limits.
Source: iTWire
Tue, 15th Mar 2016
NBN considered ditching FTTN for FTTdp
NBN chief executive Bill Morrow has revealed the network builder’s board examined a fibre-to-the-distribution point rollout as a replacement to FTTN 12 months ago, with cost and rollout time considerations ultimately scotching the proposal.
Source: iTnews Australia
Foxtel and Roadshow home in on piracy website blocking
ISPs are suggesting domain name blocking rather than IP address blocking in Foxtel and Roadshow's case to get piracy websites blocked.
Source: ZDNet Australia
FttDP becoming better option than FttN, but premature for entire NBN: Morrow
For a couple of hundred thousand homes in the NBN rollout, FttDP is the faster and cheaper option, but more work has to be done before it completely overtakes fibre to the node as NBN's preferred technology.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Some consumers doubt the value of NBN services: survey
A new research report has found that many Australians believe the National Broadband Network (NBN) plans being offered by retail service providers are not worth paying extra money for.
Source: iTWire
ACCC Says NBN Prices Are Fine, Puts A Cap On Them
“The ACCC is satisfied that NBN Co’s prices did not exceed the applicable maximum regulated prices in 2014-15,” said ACCC Commissioner Cristina Cifuentes in a statement today.
Source: Gizmodo
Rights holders, ISPs still discussing technical minutiae of site blocking
Internet service providers are not expected to put up a fight against prospective court orders that will compel them to block access to a number of piracy-linked websites, but the finer details of how such a block will be implemented and maintained is yet to be determined.
Source: Computerworld
NBN – is ‘CopperArt’ a faster, cheaper roll-out with a legacy?
At the recent TechLeaders conference - a meeting of some of Australia’s top IT journalists - Jason Clare, Shadow Minister for Communications described the NBN as MTTM (Malcolm Turnbull’s Terrible Mess) and called it ‘CopperArt’ in reference to using copper (or cable) to deliver the last mile.
Source: iTWire
MyNetFone wants NBN to level playing field
At the 2016 Tech Leaders Forum, MyNetFone co-founder and chief executive, Rene Sugo called for the National Broadband Network (NBN) to level the market for mid-size telcos in Australia.
Source: ARN
NBN Says Targets Are Being Met, Internet Australia Says Its Not Good Enough
Last night NBN chairman Dr Ziggy Switkowski assured audiences of ABCs The Business that the company is meeting all of its milestones, adding that “the progress in terms of copper has been fabulously fast”.
Source: Gizmodo
Mon, 14th Mar 2016
NBN should abandon CVC charges, reduce POIs: MNF CEO
NBN should step away from CVC charges and lessen the number of POIs if it wants to remain competitive, MNF CEO Rene Sugo has said.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Basslink-affected TPG must leverage Telstra cable: Tas government
The government has urged TPG to use Telstra's cable assets to continue servicing its Tasmanian customers following the Basslink outage.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Turnbull urged to change tack on NBN
The Government is urged to consider an about-face and embrace Labor's fibre to the home plan for the National Broadband Network, as the chairman denies claims the project is not hitting its targets.
Source: ABC News
Telstra cancels US$1 billion wireless joint venture
Telstra announced it was unable to reach commercial arrangements with San Miguel Corporation for an equity investment in a wireless joint venture in the Philippines.
Source: CRN
Cellular competition could kill NBN by 2020, says MyNetFone founder
MyNetFone cofounder and CEO, Rene Sugo, has delivered a stinging attack on the NBN warning that its business model will be unsustainable in the face of competition from cellular and from TPG’s fibre to the basement offering, and that smaller telcos — dependent on the NBN to connect customers – will be driven out of the market.
Source: Computerworld
ACCC to look into concerns about Telstra price gouging
The ACCC says it is conducting enquiries into concerns about access to Telstra's fibre optic cable, as internet disruptions in Tasmania continue.
Source: ABC News