Broadband News

Sun, 13th Mar 2016

TPG Relents To Tasmanian Government, Secures Extra Bandwidth From Telstra For Damaged Basslink

It’s been on the cards since Basslink, the power / data carrying cable that connects Tasmania to mainland Australia, was damaged in late December last year. Yet, TPG was happy to leave customers with degraded internet, potentially for months, until intervention from the Tasmanian government forced the ISP’s hand.

Source: Gizmodo

Sat, 12th Mar 2016

iiNet, Internode strike Telstra capacity deal for Tasmania

Tasmanian customers of iiNet and Internode are likely to see some relief from degraded internet services by Thursday 17th March after a breakthrough deal for Bass Strait capacity was signed late Saturday.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tas govt wrings TPG 'review' from internet slowdown

The Tasmanian government has secured a commitment from TPG to “review” its Bass Strait cable capacity for brands including iiNet and Internode as major internet access issues dragged into a second day.

Source: iTnews Australia

iiNet group customer anger boiling over Basslink

Customers of the iiNet group of ISPs in Tasmania have reacted angrily to a warning that they should expect degraded internet services for the next three months.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tasmanian internet users angry as Basslink repairs slow downloads

Tasmanian internet users report slow internet speeds after repairs began on the faulty Basslink power cable, which also carries fibre-optic cables.

Source: ABC News

Fri, 11th Mar 2016

This Week's Biggest NBN And Telco News: You Must Construct Additional Fibre

Here’s where we round up all the Aussie news around the ‘net about the ‘net, every week. Check in here for a quick primer on everything from piracy to privacy to data retention and the NBN.

Source: Gizmodo

PPC-1 cable back online

TPG's PPC-1 submarine cable system is back online.

Source: Computerworld

ICANN submits plan to grab Internet functions off US Government

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has submitted a plan to the US Government designed to lead to global ownership of key technical Internet functions associated with domain names.

Source: iTWire

Thu, 10th Mar 2016

Fifield releases spectrum legislation overhaul consultation paper

The Australian government has published its consultation paper on the proposed new spectrum licensing, regulation, and pricing legislation.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Vodafone Australia paid no tax in 2014 – Why?

Could it have been ‘Vodafail’ as customers deserted the less than stellar performing mobile carrier back in 2014. Whatever the reason a huge number of Australians want to know why the multinational mobile operator paid no tax in Australia – and they want to know now.

Source: iTWire

Optus Wi-Fi up and running at Mirvac shopping centres

Optus Wi-Fi services have been deployed at two flagship shopping centres of the Mirvac property group in New South Wales and Queensland.

Source: iTWire

Tony Windsor drawn out of retirement to fight for FttP NBN

With the NBN being one of the issues that made him choose to support Labor over the Coalition in 2013, Tony Windsor is returning to politics due to stalling with NBN, defence, and education funding.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Wed, 09th Mar 2016

Repair work begins on TPG’s PPC-1 cable

Repair work is on TPG’s PPC-1 underwater cable system is under way, the telco revealed yesterday.

Source: Computerworld

Tue, 08th Mar 2016

ACCC investigation: Vaya telco responds

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reports that telco Vaya ‘has taken measures’ to address ACCC concerns following a spike in consumer complaints.

Source: iTWire

Basslink locates interconnector cable fault

The fault that took out power delivery over the Basslink electricity and data cable between Tasmania and mainland Australia appears to have been located, the company said today.

Source: iTnews Australia

Basslink Tasmanian subsea cable to be repaired by May

The Tasmanian subsea cable, which contains fibre-optic assets used for telecommunications, should be repaired by late May, according to Basslink.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Aussie unis plan high-speed fibre research testbed

Three leading Victorian universities are planning to create a joint testbed for research that could significantly boost the capacity of fibre backhaul networks, a senate inquiry heard last week.

Source: iTnews Australia

The Netflix Mobile App Will Use Less Data (Soon)

Netflix makes constant iterative changes to its movie and TV streaming platform. Some of those are small, and some are major; most don’t make a huge difference to the way you watch videos though. A small change that might do exactly that for mobile users is on the way, though — a data saver option that doesn’t go all-out on video quality, in order to save your previous mobile data.

Source: Gizmodo

Optus denies name change to 'Yes'

Optus has said no to Yes, unequivocally saying that despite reports to the contrary, it is not rebranding.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Mon, 07th Mar 2016

MyNetFone ‘re-invents’ its home phone service with unlimited voice plans

Promising savings of ‘up to 60% off’ normal landline phone bills, with the free advanced features MNF’s VoIP customers expect, great value new home plans have just launched.

Source: iTWire

Amaysim-owned Vaya’s new plans: better value than Amaysim?

In January, Amaysim purchased low-cost MVNO Vaya, and now it has made changes to its plans which see almost all receive increased value.

Source: iTWire

Build it in fibre – ‘Just do it.''

Internet Australia (IA) has called for an urgent re-think on NBN urging the Australian Government Senate inquiry last Friday to ‘just do it’ and deploy fibre.

Source: iTWire

'Deploy Fibre': Internet Australia Backs FTTP At NBN Senate Enquiry

In the past Internet Australia (IA) has called for fast, ubiquitous broadband without publicly favouring a technological solution. Based on new fibre costings and backed by a survey of its members IA has now called for a re-assessment of the Government’s MTM model.

Source: Gizmodo

Turnbull’s MTM not good enough, IA chief tells Senate NBN Inquiry

The chief executive of Internet Australia, the peak body representing Internet users, has told the Senate NBN Inquiry currently underway in Canberra that the MTM broadband network being built by nbn is not good enough for Australia’s future needs.

Source: iTWire

Government acknowledges poor internet in Canberra's south but sticks to NBN plan

Minister for Communications acknowledges some areas of Canberra's southern suburbs have poor internet access.

Source: SMH

Fri, 04th Mar 2016

​Ericsson signs Decmil for NBN fixed wireless panel contract

Decmil Group will be responsible for the design, supply installation, commissioning, and integration of hardware and software in relation to the NBN's fixed wireless network capacity expansion.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Optus, TPG: ACCC did not 'ignore' NBN in Telstra copper pricing

The ACCC did not ignore the existence of the NBN in choosing to cut Telstra's wholesale copper pricing by almost 10 percent, and nor did it ignore its own principles, TPG and Optus have argued in court.

Source: ZDNet Australia

'We Would Always Look At Ways To Reduce Cost And Time': NBN Defends 'Secret' FTTP Trials

A leaked internal document recently revealed that the company building the nbn has been trialling a reliable, cheaper fibre to the premises technology — which has the potential to reach of an all-fibre system to the home.

Source: Gizmodo

This Week's Biggest NBN And Telco News: NBN Rejects Budget Problems, What Is 5G?

Here’s where we round up all the Aussie news around the ‘net about the ‘net, every week. Check in here for a quick primer on everything from piracy to privacy to data retention and the NBN.

Source: Gizmodo

Secret nbn trial slashes per-premises costs in half

A new leaked internal document reveals secret trials of low-cost fibre-to-the-premises program by nbn.

Source: iTWire