Broadband News
Thu, 11th Feb 2016
Telstra sees connection issues with US-hosted websites
Telstra has followed up its nationwide mobile network outage earlier this week with problems connecting to websites hosted by third-party US-based providers.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Our ‘woeful FTTN NBN’: an open user letter
Last night in a Senate Estimates hearing, former ALP Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy grilled nbn CEO Bill Morrow about numerous complaints that offices of various MPs had received about the poor performance of users’ FttN NBN services.
Source: iTWire
Dallas Buyers Club Throws In The Towel On iiNet Piracy Case
It’s finally over. For a year and a half, lawyers for Dallas Buyers Club have been fighting iiNet to access the details of over 4,000 of its customers that had allegedly committed copyright infringement — pirating the 2013 Matthew McConaughey film. Now it has been confirmed that the case has finally come to an end, with DBC LLC throwing in the towel.
Source: Gizmodo
Copyright notice scheme takes back seat to website blocking
Representatives of the telecommunications and Australian content industries have yet to finalise key details of a scheme that will see alleged pirates sent a series notices warning them to cease illicit downloads.
Source: Computerworld
Wed, 10th Feb 2016
DBC gives up on iiNet piracy case
The owners of the film Dallas Buyers Club have chosen not to take further action in their legal fight with iiNet over its users' alleged copyright infringement, bringing an official end to the year-and-a-half long saga.
Source: iTnews Australia
FttN complaints are not caused by the technology: NBN CEO
NBN CEO Bill Morrow has told Senate Estimates that the technology used in the fibre-to-the-node (FttN) rollout across Australia is not to blame for customer complaints about FttN services.
Source: ZDNet Australia
'Netflix tax' bill hits parliament
The federal government has introduced draft legislation that would see the goods and services tax applied to digital products purchased from overseas.
Source: iTnews Australia
The NBN Debate Will Never Be Over
Opinion: “Let’s quit fussing around.” The chief executive of the National Broadband Network company hopes that we are “past that” annoying war over fibre to the node versus fibre to the premises, and that we can all as a nation just concentrate on getting everybody connected to the NBN. But it’s not that easy.
Source: Gizmodo
NBN quizzed over FTTN complaints
The electorate offices of Labor MPs in the Macquarie and Newcastle areas are being “flooded with complaints about fibre to the node”, the architect of the original all-fibre blueprint for the National Broadband Network, Senator Stephen Conroy, said yesterday during a Senate Estimates hearing.
Source: Computerworld
Carriers celebrate as Telecommunications Act of 1996 turns 20
The winners in a broadband industry heavily shaped by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 celebrated publicly this week, as February 8 marked the 20-year anniversary of the law taking effect.
Source: ARN
NBN to finally give its PoI network redundancy
NBN will address long-held concerns over the resiliency of its 121 points of interconnect by introducing a redundancy capability in 2017.
Source: iTnews Australia
Tue, 09th Feb 2016
Telstra outage: 'Embarrassing human error' to blame
Today's Telstra outage occurred due to human error in handling a mobile node going down, the COO has disclosed.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra giving away data to mobile customers due to outage
Telstra is giving all its customers free mobile data all day Sunday following a mass outage that impacted 3G and 4G services across the country.
Source: CRN
Telstra confirms mass outage for Australian mobile users
Telstra mobile customers are experiencing a mass outage in multiple states, affecting phone calls and data usage, as well as SMS and online warning alerts for residents in a bushfire zone in Western Australia.
Source: ABC News
Major Telstra mobile outage hits nationwide, with calls and data affected
A widespread interruption to Telstra mobile service is being felt across the country, with thousands taking to social media to complain that calls are unavailable, as well as 2G, 3G and 4G data.
Source: SMH
TPG international cable system out for a month
Australia’s number two broadband provider TPG has suffered a major outage of its international cable that connects Australia to the outside world. What’s more, the outage is not expected to be repaired for at least a month, with 7 March the estimated fix date.
Source: iTWire
The NBN Is Making Australia's Country Towns More Appealing
Kiama (NSW), Ballarat (VIC), Toowoomba (QLD), St Helens (TAS), Victor Harbour (SA), Mandurah (WA) and Howard Springs (NT) are highlighted as potential boom towns for the latest lifestyle movement, identified in research from a report commissioned by NBN.
Source: Gizmodo
Mon, 08th Feb 2016
Optus is most complained-about telco
Optus has recorded more new complaints per user in the last quarter than either Telstra or Vodafone.
Source: CRN
Telcos line up with ACCC against Telstra
Three more telcos have been added as respondents to Telstra’s legal action against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Source: Computerworld
TPG submarine cable outage expected to last a month
A fibre fault in the Sydney-Guam submarine cable will persist until March, according to TPG, with the Southern Cross Cable and Australian-Japan Cable system to be used as substitutes.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACCAN wants reduction on NBN pricing
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has raised concerns about the affordability of nbn services in the wake of Friday’s announcement by the broadband network of its financial results for the six months to the end of last December.
Source: iTWire
Ovum ‘encouraged’ by NBN progress
Research analyst firm Ovum says the growth in the number of ‘premises ready for service’ from the nbn is encouraging, with figures released by NBN Co on Friday showing the number of premises has more than doubled in 2015 to 1.67 million, with growth accelerating in 2H15.
Source: iTWire
Regional spectrum will help enhance 4G services: Telstra
Telstra says the 57 blocks of spectrum covering 12 regions across Australia it secured at the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) auction last week will be used to enhance the delivery of 4G mobile services.
Source: iTWire
Australian PPC-1 cable cut, out of action until March
The PPC-1 Australian submarine cable running between Sydney and the United States island territory of Guam has been fully severed, with the repair estimated to take around a month to complete.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fri, 05th Feb 2016
nbn chief confident on track to 8 million connections by 2020
Bill Morrow, CEO of the National Broadband Network, is buoyant about the nbn and the progress his team are making in the progressive rollout of the fast broadband network across Australia.
Source: iTWire
Government Just Sold $543 Million Of Mobile Spectrum
The results of the Federal Government’s recent auction of a large chunk of the 1800MHz band of the Australian radiofrequency spectrum have been announced: Telstra and Optus each spent nearly $200 million on securing more bandwidth, while TPG and Vodafone also splashed out with multi-million dollar investments. The 2015 auction should see Australia’s 4G networks in regional areas get faster and cover wider areas.
Source: Gizmodo
NBN revenue continues to climb, with fibre still key
NBN’s revenue has continued to soar as the National Broadband Network rollout continues, but despite the pivot to a ‘multi-technology mix’ (MTM) after the 2013 election it has continued to be fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections that contribute the lion’s share.
Source: Computerworld
nbn co faces EBITDA loss of $866 million for 2016 first half results
nbn has released the financial results for its first half 2016, ending December 31, 2015. The company reported an EBITDA loss of $688 million, from $497 million the same time last year.
Source: ARN
Telcos splash $543m on 1800 MHz spectrum
Optus, Telstra, TPG and Vodafone have emerged as the winners of the Australian Communications and Media Authority's $543.5 million 1800 MHz spectrum auction.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN reports AU$1.2b loss for FY16 first half
NBN has grown its revenue by 152.3 percent, to AU$164 million, but with a net loss of AU$1.24 billion for the six-month period.
Source: ZDNet Australia