Broadband News
Mon, 31st Mar 2014
ACCC keeps eye on backhaul competition
Most backhaul network services provided by Telstra and other providers will still be regulated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for at least the next five years.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Dropbox under fire for 'DMCA takedown' of personal folders, but fears are vastly overblown
The online storage startup, also used by mid-size businesses and enterprise customers, like any other company has to comply with U.S. copyright law. But how it goes about it can be an entirely different matter.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Govt may ship data to subsea cable telcos
The Federal Government has indicated it is willing to consider handing submarine fibre operators access to data collected by ships passing in the vicinity of cable infrastructure.
Source: iTnews Australia
ACCC waters down Telstra exchange price threat
The ACCC has backed down on a threat to use competition law to control the prices charged by Telstra for exchange access, ducking possible legal action.
Source: iTnews Australia
Sun, 30th Mar 2014
Optus services suffer six-hour Sunday outage
Optus customers across three states lost internet, cable tv and phone line services on Sunday morning, with some customers being left disconnected for up to six hours.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fri, 28th Mar 2014
'Safe harbour' for Facebook, Google proposed for Aus privacy law
The Australian Law Reform Commission last night offered up a sneak preview of recommendations it will make around new privacy law, which will include a 'safe harbour' provision for internet platform providers such as Facebook and Google.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra's accounting separation reporting requirements pulled by ACCC
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has revoked regulations requiring Telstra to report its wholesale and retail operations separately.
Source: ARN
Thu, 27th Mar 2014
iiNet distributed 1.2 petabytes of data in December 2013
iiNet’s content delivery network (CDN) distributed 1.2 petabytes (PB) or 1228.8 terabytes (TB) of video and music data in December 2013 alone.
Source: ARN
ACMA warns Optus over billing
Optus has been formally warned by the ACMA for inaccurately billing hundreds of thousands of customers prior in 2011 and 2012.
Source: iTWire
Committee slams NBN strategic review; Coalition slams committee
An interim report of the Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network issued yesterday has expressed "significant concerns with the accuracy and reliability" of the strategic review process that led to NBN Co adopting the multi-technology mix model for the network favoured by the Coalition.
Source: Computerworld
Wed, 26th Mar 2014
NBN strategic review 'inaccurate, unreliable', says Senate committee
The Labor and Greens membership of the Senate Select Committee investigating the national broadband network has found NBN Co's "deficient" and "manipulated" strategic review failed to provide a sufficient basis for the adoption of an alternative deployment path for the rollout.
Source: iTnews Australia
Tue, 25th Mar 2014
Turnbull pours $18.4m into NBN satellite service
The Federal Government will spend a further $18.4 million to increase capacity on its interim satellite service, after NBN Co stopped taking orders for the oversubscribed service in January this year.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN conference postponed: nothing worth talking about
The NBN was for years such a hot-button topic that the country couldn't say enough about it. Yet as the Coalition government lets the current rollout coast, one conference organiser found there was nothing worth saying about it.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Coalition's biggest achievement: making the NBN boring
Six months on, and there's so little excitement around the NBN that an industry conference was cancelled because there was nothing to discuss. Welcome to the Coalition's NBN: lowering expectations and rewriting history until the project is so unambitious and boring that we'd rather just watch the footy.
Source: ZDNet Australia
TPG's broadband growth hinged on bundles
A rise in uptake of TPG's ADSL2+ bundles has helped offset a decline in the number of stand alone broadband customers for the ISP.
Source: ZDNet Australia
TPG's FTTB build enters construction mode
TPG has begun construction on a number of sites as part of its trial of fibre-to-the-basement technology, and revealed new detail about the metropolitan areas in line to receive services as it unveiled its half year results today.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co expands enterprise testing off-network
NBN Co will allow the owners or makers of copper-based equipment to test NBN compatibility themselves, a new option that doesn't involve bringing gear to an on-network NBN-owned test facility.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 24th Mar 2014
IIA shuts down
The Internet Industry Association has announced it will cease trading and transfer its operations to telecommunications industry body the Communications Alliance.
Source: iTnews Australia
Price cuts, Wi-Fi touted as alternatives to roaming regulation
Telstra has pointed to the price drops in roaming, and the availability of Wi-Fi as reasons why the Australian government should back away from plans to regulate mobile roaming charges.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACCAN backs government to end global roaming rip-off
Peak telecommunications consumer body, The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), has endorsed the federal government’s bill to create a competitive global roaming market.
Source: ARN
Treasury backs NBN funding cap
Treasury has thrown its support behind the government capping off NBN Co investment at AU$29.5 billion, and opening up the network to infrastructure-based competition.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Want to be anonymous? Now you have a right to be
Australian citizens now have the right to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym when interacting with government agencies, private health service providers, and large organisations under new privacy laws.
Source: SMH
Sun, 23rd Mar 2014
NBN Co alarmed about alarms
Worried about what might happen when NBN fibre replaces copper phone lines in some areas, NBN Co has established a medical alarms register.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 21st Mar 2014
iiNet CFO Buckingham leading race to succeed founder Malone
iiNet's acting CEO and chief financial officer David Buckingham is looking to be a likely replacement for Michael Malone who today resigned from his CEO position.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Review your phone and Internet plans, says ACCC
The ACCC is urging consumers to review their phone and internet plans following the tabling of its Annual Telecommunications Reports for 2012-13 in Parliament.
Source: iTWire
iiNet chief Malone quits
iiNet founder and chief executive Michael Malone has today resigned from his position, following a three-month sabbatical from the company.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN: Concern over medical alarms as copper switch-off approaches
NBN Co this morning launched a register to track personal medical alarms that may be affected by the switch-off of the copper network in areas where the National Broadband Network has been rolled out.
Source: Computerworld
Vodafone 4G goes live in Tasmania
Vodafone has turned on its 4G (LTE) network in parts of Tasmania.
Source: ARN
ACCC releases safety guide for online business
The ACCC has released a new publication with best practice tips for online sellers and marketplaces. It will also help consumers.
Source: iTWire
Thu, 20th Mar 2014
ACCAN flags concerns about NBN complaints
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network is concerned about the number of telecommunications-related complaints in current NBN rollout sites.
Source: Computerworld