Broadband News

Fri, 01st Aug 2014

Rights owners must sue mum and dad copyright infringers: Turnbull

Copyright holders must be prepared to sue mums and dads and students for copyright infringement in order for any deterrence scheme to be effective, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Thu, 31st Jul 2014

World Cup sets records for Akamai

Content delivery specialist Akamai says the recently-concluded FIFA World Cup set a new record for live sports events and contributed to the highest-ever total traffic peak.

Source: iTWire

Piracy is theft but content owners need to up their game: Turnbull

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said online copyright infringement needs to be deterred in Australia, but has said content owners should pay for any notification system and ensure their content is available in a timely and affordable manner.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Wed, 30th Jul 2014

Attorney-General seeks public input on anti-piracy law changes

Attorney-General George Brandis and communications minister Malcolm Turnbull have opened a public consultation on changes to the enforcement of copyright law.

Source: Computerworld

Ericsson Australia wins four-year NBN Co contract

NBN Co has handed Ericsson Australia a four year contract to deliver fixed wireless and satellite services to premises across regional Australia.

Source: ARN

NBN Co plans cut on controversial capacity charge

NBN Co has flagged it is planning to cut its controversial connectivity virtual circuit charge by 12.5 percent in October, amongst other proposals to change the company's pricing model.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Data retention scheme would lead to surveillance tax on consumers, say telcos

Internet users could pay up to $100 a year extra if the federal government implements a scheme requiring telecommunications companies to store customer phone and internet data for two years, according to one of the country’s largest internet service providers.

Source: SMH

TV finally losing its heated battle with the Internet

The seemingly inevitable is finally upon us - Internet use has almost taken over from TV as our preferred source of entertainment, while reading news online has overtaken newspapers according to a new survey.

Source: iTWire

Australian mobile users switch to Aldi, Amaysim

In a relatively saturated mobile market, Australian mobile resellers Amaysim and Aldi are picking up market share, according to the latest statistics.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Tue, 29th Jul 2014

Telstra retreat hands Vodafone Splendour mobile coverage win

The mobile services of both Telstra and Optus were virtually unusable for the 30,000 pundits attending this year's Splendour in the Grass festival, while the underdog Vodafone performed best.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Vodafone announces big 4G push – in the city

Vodafone says it aims to reach 95% of Australia’s metropolitan population with its 4G network by end of 2014.

Source: iTWire

Govt must store data in retention regime: iiNet

The Government must be responsible for the storage and protection of data held as part of its 'unnecessary and disproportionate' proposed mandatory data retention regime, according to the scheme's most vocal opponent, internet service provider iiNet.

Source: iTnews Australia

Vodafone re-allocates 850MHz 4G spectrum a week after Telstra and Optus 700MHz launch

Vodafone pulled the plug on its bid for a chunk of the 700MHz spectrum in 2012, and is now re-allocating its existing 850MHz spectrum to compete with Telstra and Optus, both of which launched their respective 700MHz networks to limited locations earlier this month.

Source: ARN

Mon, 28th Jul 2014

NBN Co sets September FTTP service date for TPG areas

NBN Co's fibre-to-the-premise product will be ready for service in areas where internet service provider TPG is seen as posing a competitive threat from late September this year.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co examines 'connected home' opportunities for RSPs

NBN Co, in conjunction with Ovum, has released a report highlighting opportunities for service providers to innovate and profit from the rise of the 'connected home'.

Source: ARN

Beware the spin behind Australia's copyright law discussion paper

Another week, another propaganda-driven proposal from the mind of Australian Attorney-General Brandis. This one assumes that ISPs need to fix other people's broken product distribution models.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Fri, 25th Jul 2014

Govt proposes crackdown on ISPs over piracy

The Australian government has proposed amending the country's Copyright Act to make internet service providers legally responsible when their users infringe on copyrighted material, and to allow the copyright industry to force ISPs through the courts to censor specific websites.

Source: iTnews Australia

Brandis proposes website blocking and piracy crackdown

A leaked discussion paper from the Australian Attorney-General's Department reveals proposals to implement new legislation to undo the High Court's judgement in the 2012 iiNet copyright infringement case against Hollywood film studios, and force ISPs to block websites containing copyright infringing material.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Thu, 24th Jul 2014

Turnbull urges ACCC to avoid NBN migration 'price shock'

Federal communication minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is urging the Australian competition watchdog to avoid making any decisions that could result in an NBN migration "price shock".

Source: ZDNet Australia

Turnbull warns ACCC against undermining Telstra NBN agreement

Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull and finance minister Mathias Cormann have warned the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that cutting wholesale pricing for services over Telstra's copper network could negatively affect the National Broadband Network rollout.

Source: Computerworld

Telstra sends more jobs to Asia

When Telstra boss David Thodey said the company's future is in Asia, he was right. That’s where many of the company's jobs are headed.

Source: iTWire

Australia a wireless leader and wired laggard

Australia has the second highest rate of broadband mobile in the world but ranks a lowly 21st place in fixed broadband. Australia has 114.4 wireless broadband subscriptions per 100 population but just 26.1 fixed connections per 100, according to the latest figures from the OECD.

Source: iTWire

Wed, 23rd Jul 2014

Australia drops in OECD broadband rankings

Australia has dropped from 18th to 21st in the OECD rankings for fixed broadband penetration for the last six months of 2013.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra to shutter 2G network by the end of 2016

Telstra has sounded the death knell for its legacy 2G network, announcing plans to close it down at the end of 2016.

Source: ZDNet Australia

More mobile gadgets than people? Seven countries - including Australia - now qualify

Wireless broadband subscriptions now outnumber people in seven countries as consumers continue to snap up smartphones and tablets, according to a new report.

Source: Computerworld

Vodafone relying on high-value subscribers amid 137,000 customer loss

Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA)'s former boss, Bill Morrow, expected the telecommunications provider's subscriber loss to halt by mid-2014, but the company continues to feel the aftermath of its 2010 outages.

Source: ARN

Vodafone still bleeding mobile customers

Vodafone Australia has not yet been able to stem the tide of mobile user losses despite a dedicated turnaround effort, losing a further 137,000 mobile subscribers in the six months to June 30.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 22nd Jul 2014

NBN: Nothing, But Nothing is happening

You know the NBN is dead when not even the FttN haters bother to shellac Malcolm Turnbull's blogs. As Telstra reasserts control over the NBN and the Coalition government flounders, can we actually expect anything from the NBN anymore?

Source: ZDNet Australia

Wilkie reveals NBN Co's Tasmanian deal with Visionstream

Independent MP for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has shed light on some of the issues plaguing the rollout of the fibre to the premises network in Tasmania by construction contractor Visionstream, and the steps NBN Co has implemented to fix it.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Stealthy Web tracking tools pose increasing privacy risks to users

Three stealthy tracking mechanisms designed to avoid weaknesses in browser cookies pose potential privacy risks to Internet users, a new research paper has concluded.

Source: ARN