Broadband News
Thu, 20th Mar 2014
Exetel challenges NBN market with cheaper plans
Exetel has launched a set of National Broadband Network (NBN) plans which it claims have seen solid sales in serviced locations around the country.
Source: ARN
Fewer Australians complaining about telcos
Complaints to the Australian Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman have recorded an almost 20 percent year-on-year drop, according to the latest statistics.
Source: ZDNet Australia
HFC NBN just fine for Telepresence: Cisco
Cisco has endorsed using hybrid-fibre cable (HFC) as a more expedient way to connect 3 million homes to Australia’s National Broadband Network.
Source: Computerworld
Wed, 19th Mar 2014
Vodafone to charge AU$1 per minute flat rate for global roaming
Vodafone Australia has ramped up its international roaming offers in an effort to attract more travellers.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Australian government to slash telco regulation
The Australian government has indicated that 1,000 pages of regulation in the Communications portfolio has been earmarked for removal in the government's first repeal Bill.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Fibre fuels flexible working at Melbourne office
High-speed fibre broadband is critical to the design of Lifestyle Working Collins Street, a green office building in Melbourne that has emphasised flexible working.
Source: Computerworld
Reverse handout: Regional group wants to co-invest in NBN
The Northern Rivers branch of Regional Development Australia is calling for the opening up of the NBN to allow regions currently slated to receive the NBN in future years to roll out their own infrastructure.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NewSat offers to buy NBN Co satellites
Satellite company NewSat has offered to buy NBN Co's two satellites, currently in construction, and lease capacity back to NBN Co for regional services.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Tue, 18th Mar 2014
Telstra to stick with structural separation
Despite some concerns Telstra is set to reportedly stick with the structural separation of its wholesale and retail arm, according to media reports today.
Source: iTWire
FTTB: TPG puts case for competing with NBN infrastructure
Internet service provider TPG has put the case for allowing it to build infrastructure that would compete with NBN Co in a submission (PDF) to the NBN Panel of Experts - also known as the Vertigan review panel, after its chair Michael Vertigan.
Source: Computerworld
Telstra calls for NBN product overhaul
Telstra has asked the government's cost-benefit analysis panel to consider overhauling NBN Co's products to make it easier for customers to migrate onto the network.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Mon, 17th Mar 2014
Aldi halves call inclusions on $35 mobile plan
Low cost MVNO Aldi will retire its ALDImobile $35 plan, which comes with 2500 call minutes and 2.5GB, on April 2. Replacing the plan is the company's new XL plan which offers half the minutes and less than half the data.
Source: ARN
Turnbull supports new governance model for DNS
Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has described as a "momentous day in the history of the Internet" the announcement by the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration that it will end its role in the Domain Name System.
Source: Computerworld
Vodafone survey backs NBN mobile infrastructure
Vodafone says a poll conducted by Empirica Research on behalf of the telco reflects popular support for using National Broadband Network infrastructure to boost mobile coverage in regional Australia.
Source: Computerworld
Internet to move from US control
The US Government has announced it will cease to be a party to Internet regulation, with control passing to a 'multistakeholder community'. The US Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) says it will transition key Internet domain name functions to the "global multistakeholder community."
Source: iTWire
Fri, 14th Mar 2014
Know your mobile phone rights, says consumer watchdog
It is World Consumer Rights Day tomorrow and it has prompted Australia's consumer watchdog to alert Aussies that they should make sure they understand their consumer rights, particularly when buying and using their mobile phones.
Source: iTWire
Music Rights Australia backs Brandis' copyright crackdown
Website blocking, download speed throttling, and making ISPs liable would go a long way toward reducing copyright infringement in Australia, according to Music Rights Australia.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Vodafone offering more 4G data, too
In another sign of a rebound Vodafone today announced it is increasing data allowances for its mobile broadband products, offering Australian customers 12GB of mobile data for $65 per month.
Source: iTWire
Telehealth doesn't need fibre, the technology already exists: Experts
The fundamental problem with telehealth is not a lack of NBN connectivity; it's culture, intransigence, and needing to change the way the health sector does business, said CSIRO chief scientist professor Branko Celler.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Amcom offers new AWS Cloud service
Australian Telco Amcom will now offer connections to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect service.
Source: ARN
Will I get fibre, cable or satellite under NBN? You'll know later this year, says Malcolm Turnbull
Australians should know what type of technology will be used to connect their homes to the NBN no later than December, Malcolm Turnbull says.
Source: SMH
Vodafone continues 4G push
Vodafone is banging its 4G war drums ever more loudly saying it is adding a hundred 4G base stations a month. It also still says it has the fastest network.
Source: iTWire
Thu, 13th Mar 2014
What a croc: NT Police data retention proposal 'overreach'
Retaining a record of every website a customer visits and all other metadata is incompatible with the new Privacy Act, according to iiNet.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Mobile users 'wasting their data allowance'
Most Australian mobile phones users are not using all their data allowances. This means they are effectively gifting telcos hundreds of millions of dollars, say consumer organisations.
Source: iTWire
Web founder Berners-Lee calls for online bill of rights
The man many credit with inventing the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, last night called for a bill of rights to protect freedom of speech and users' rights on the internet following leaks about government surveillance of online activity.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN: Productivity Commission criticises lack of cost benefit analysis
The initial decision to proceed with constructing the National Broadband Network without a "thorough analysis of its costs and benefits" is an example of "inadequate project selection leading to costly outcomes for some users and taxpayers in general," argues a two-volume draft report on public infrastructure issued by the Productivity Commission today.
Source: Computerworld
New bosses for Telstra's media and networks groups
Telstra has expanded its executive committee with the appointment of Mark Buckman and Mike Wright as managing directors of its media and marketing, and networks groups, respectively.
Source: ARN
Wed, 12th Mar 2014
Telstra loses case against ACCC, Vocus Communications and iiNet subsidiaries
Telstra (ASX: TLS) has lost its Federal Court case against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Vocus Communications (ASX: VOC) and iiNet (ASX: IIN) subsidiaries over an exchange and underground duct access pricing increase dispute.
Source: Computerworld
Conroy wants answers on NBN Co leak
Former communications minister Stephen Conroy wants NBN Co to track down anonymous staffers who attacked him in the media.
Source: Computerworld
TPG rollout threatens NBN financial health: Ziggy Switkowski
The national broadband network's bottom line could be severely impacted by competition from existing fibre-to-the-basement internet providers, NBN Co's chairman Dr Ziggy Switkowski told a senate hearing on Wednesday.
Source: SMH