Broadband News
Wed, 04th Feb 2015
No 2015 deadline for NBN wireless rollout
Plans to finish the NBN fixed-wireless network in 2015 have gone since the change of government, despite the company meeting its own new running targets since the strategic review.
Source: ZDNet Australia
M2M: Vodafone connects the unconnected with MachineLink 3G Plus
A new alternative for unconnected machines that need a larger selection of interface options has been unveiled by telco giant Vodafone and network equipment specialist Netcomm.
Source: iTWire
Australian IaaS market grows as internet traffic increases
Frost & Sullivan has predicted that the Australian infrastructure-as-a-service market will continue to grow strongly over the next five years, and hit AU$439 million by 2018.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Tue, 03rd Feb 2015
Expats phone home, says Optus
Optus says it is encouraging expats in Australia to phone their homelands by lowering postpaid text and voice costs.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co faces satellite launch delay
The National Broadband Network satellites will likely be stuck on the ground for three months longer than planned.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Mon, 02nd Feb 2015
Virgin Mobile: No FebFast, just FeBonus Data
Virgin Mobile is throwing in 1GB of bonus data on its $35 SIM Plan - but just for this month.
Source: iTWire
Village Roadshow boosts donations amidst copyright crackdown
Village Roadshow significantly increased its donations to political parties over the past year as the Government works to crack down on online copyright infringement.
Source: iTnews Australia
Abbott pushes data retention in Press Club address
The government's counter-terrorism efforts and its plan to implement a controversial mandatory data retention scheme made the cut in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's highly anticipated National Press Club address.
Source: Computerworld
Officeworks CFO joins iiNet
ASX-listed telco iiNet (ASX:IIN) has crowned Michael Howard as its new chief financial officer.
Source: ARN
Over a million Australians use two mobile phones
Around 1.14 million Australians use two or more different mobile phones. And they're not all secret agents and adulterers.
Source: iTWire
UK telco BT to pilot G.fast copper broadband
British telco incumbent BT intends to kick off two large-scale pilots of the G.fast digital subscriber line, with the aim of delivering 500 megabit per-second broadband over copper to customers within a decade.
Source: iTnews Australia
Foxtel shakes up broadband vista
Foxtel has ignited a new battle for the nation’s 12.5 million internet subscribers, unveiling long-awaited broadband plans and renewed intent to greatly expand its pay-TV penetration.
Source: The Australian
Fri, 30th Jan 2015
NBN failure leaves man with no phone or internet, but he's still getting the bills
A resident of Wollongong suburb Dapto has spent the past three months without a phone or internet connection — but says Telstra keeps sending him bills anyway.
Source: SMH
Optus says data retention is 'workable'
Australia's second-largest telco has joined its biggest rival in confirming the proposed set of data that the government wants telcos to retain for law-enforcement purposes is 'workable' for the company.
Source: ZDNet Australia
No rules for data destruction in retention scheme
Optus has voiced concerns that the Government has made no provision to ensure data collected under its proposed retention regime is destroyed once the two-year mandatory storage period is up.
Source: iTnews Australia
Data retention to involve 'petabytes of data' for Vodafone
Recording data that will allow IP addresses to be matched to individual customers will involve Vodafone storing petabytes of information it would otherwise be unlikely to keep, the telco has said.
Source: Computerworld
Thu, 29th Jan 2015
Top cop's claims cast shadow over data-retention plan
As Australian lawmakers debate legislation forcing telcos to retain customers' metadata for a minimum of two years, NSW Police deputy commissioner Nick Kaldas has claimed that he and others have been the target of inappropriately warranted electronic surveillance by his own force.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra refuses to disclose cost of data retention
Australia’s largest telco Telstra has refused to disclose how much it expects the Government’s data retention scheme will cost to implement, claiming the figure as commercial-in-confidence.
Source: iTnews Australia
Wed, 28th Jan 2015
Data retention: Two years too long to keep IP addresses, says Vodafone
Telecommunications providers shouldn't be forced to retain the IP addresses assigned to their customers for 24 months, Vodafone has argued.
Source: Computerworld
Warnings Australian spy agency won't delete retained data
The inspector-general of Intelligence and Security has warned that Australia's top spy agency is under no obligation to delete data it receives under mandatory data-retention legislation.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Turnbull ticks Telstra-NBN HFC migration plan
NBN Co will be required to provide rollout information to all retailers in a bid to prevent Telstra from gaining a competitive advantage as the NBN begins taking over the company's HFC network.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Tue, 27th Jan 2015
Singtel-Optus chief pledges to break Telstra's stronghold
SingTel-Optus' new chief executive Allen Lew has pledged to break Telstra's mobile service dominance and build the nation's leading network in a move that could trigger a multibillion-dollar construction arms race between the telco giants.
Source: SMH
How a shock jock got pranksters fired using metadata
The case for mandatory data retention is that the data is crucial for averting terrorism or big crimes -- but sometimes its use is a little more questionable.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Presto turns on TV for Android tablet users
Select Android tablets, mostly from Samsung but also the Nexus 7, now join the iPad, Chromecast, PCs and Macs in being able to watch Presto’s TV programming, but still no Android smartphones, iPhones, smart TVs or games consoles as with Netflix - yet.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 23rd Jan 2015
Ambiguity leaves AIIA questioning data-retention legislation
The peak national body representing companies including Apple, Google, Telstra, and Optus has said that the Australian government's draft data-retention legislation is too ambiguous.
Source: ZDNet Australia
IPv4 exhaustion stunts Internet growth in 2014
Expansion of the Internet slowed in 2014 as the number of available IPv4 addresses neared exhaustion, according to a report by the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), the regional Internet registry for the Asia Pacific.
Source: Computerworld
Aussie study aims to capture true value of public wi-fi
RMIT senior research fellow Dr Ian McShane expects Australia to experience a resurgence in community-based telecommunications as the ambitions of the national broadband network are gradually scaled back.
Source: iTnews Australia
Data retention: Telstra predicts metadata will surface in lawsuits
Telstra is expecting the metadata telcos will be forced to collect under the government's mandatory data retention scheme will be used in civil litigation, raising the possibility of it being used in cases such as copyright infringement lawsuits or family law disputes.
Source: Computerworld
Thu, 22nd Jan 2015
Optus, Telstra urge Govt to commit to paying cost of data retention
Australia's two largest telcos have called on the Government to make a substantial contribution to the cost of implementing its planned data retention regime, while raising concerns about the ambigious dataset contained within the Coalition's draft bill.
Source: iTnews Australia
The NBN you'll get is not the one you voted for
Freed from competition by a single-minded government, NBN Co is free to cherry pick to its heart's content, drip feeding its fibre-to-the-basement services to Australia's wealthiest areas. Yet, with so many concessions made to Telstra and so much about the NBN still up in the air, there is still more lost than gained.
Source: ZDNet Australia