Broadband News

Tue, 07th Jan 2014

Australian government blocks Conroy's 2007 Red Book release

After blocking the release of Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull's incoming ministerial briefing documents, the Department of Communications has also blocked the release of Conroy's incoming ministerial briefing documents from 2007.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Lindsay quits iiNet

The chief technology officer of iiNet, John Lindsay, has quit the Perth-based Internet provider after less than two years in the role.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 06th Jan 2014

Optus silent on network outages

Most of us are back to work today, but Optus isn't. Serious and unexplained faults have been dogging the carrier's mobile and broadband networks over the weekend, but Optus has said nothing officially.

Source: iTWire

Thu, 02nd Jan 2014

Australian broadband speeds inconsistent, patchy: study

More than a third of the Australian premises with access to fixed broadband never get more than moderate speeds of 9 megabits per second (Mbps), according to a summary of broadband availability and quality released by the government.

Source: SMH

Fri, 20th Dec 2013

Hockey misleads on NBN cost and rollout

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey has incorrectly stated that Labor's NBN would be rolled out to fewer premises and be slower than the Coalition's proposed alternative.

Source: ZDNet Australia

ACCC demands Telstra offer faster outage notices

Australia's competition watchdog has demanded Telstra notify its wholesale (ISP) customers in under two hours on those occasions when it is instructed by NBN Co to connect a fibre customer to the national broadband network using a process called 'pull through'.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 19th Dec 2013

Optus tests TD-LTE carrier aggregation in Melbourne

Optus has put LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation technology to the test on part of its TD-LTE network in Melbourne.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus gets 520Mbps speeds on 4G TD-LTE network

Optus combined four 20MHz spectrum bands on its TD-LTE network in a test in Western Sydney that saw the network achieve speeds of over 500Mbps.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Wed, 18th Dec 2013

NBN Co execs and board allowed to keep Telstra shares

NBN Co executive chairman Dr Ziggy Switkowski has said that NBN Co board members and executives will be allowed to keep shares in Telstra as long as they are not 'material' in amount.

Source: ZDNet Australia

FttB success unearths skeletons in Labor's NBN basement

The Coalition is stealing easy runs with a fibre-to-the-basement (FttB) approach to delivering broadband to multi dwelling units (MDUs) that Labor could and should have implemented long ago.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra predicts record Christmas

Telstra is tipping record traffic on its mobile network this Christmas. In a survey it conducted, nearly half of people said they will be apart from some of their family.

Source: iTWire

Telstra reaches target of 3500 4G base stations

Telstra has reached its Christmas target of 3500 4G base stations with a week to spare. It says coverage now reaches 85%  of the Australian population.

Source: iTWire

Visionstream's vote of confidence in NBN execs

Visionstream has given its first official indication of confidence in the new NBN Co management team by "accelerating" fibre rollout work in Tasmania while it attempts to re-negotiate pay rates.

Source: iTnews Australia

Ludlam accuses NBN Co of 'brazen guesswork'

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has raised concerns that key financial data underpinning the rebooted national broadband network may be little more than "brazen guesswork" on the part of NBN Co and its advisors.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co to bring fibre-like uplink speeds to copper

NBN Co intends to seek upload speeds on the fibre-to-the-node network that mirror those achievable on a fibre-to-the-home connection.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 17th Dec 2013

Hockey pulls money out of research and innovation

Australia’s research and innovation sector today bore the brunt of the federal government’s budget crisis, with the release of the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO).

Source: iTnews Australia

'Guarantees have lost currency': NBN Co

NBN Co is not in a position to guarantee minimum broadband speeds that Australians will experience on the National Broadband Network, NBN Co Chairman Ziggy Switkowksi has told a parliamentary hearing today.

Source: Computerworld

Switkowski says NBN cannot guarantee promised speeds

The head of the National Broadband Network has told a Senate committee that speed guarantees have "lost currency".

Source: ABC News

Inside NBN Co's 108Mbps apartment block test

NBN Co is touting line rate speeds of 108/48 Mbps in its first test of a 'fibre-to-the-basement' service in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 16th Dec 2013

Turnbull: NBN fibre-to-the-basement trial a 'blistering' success

Fibre-to-the-basement trials in Melbourne have produced download speeds of 108Mbps, according to Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN Co's 25Mbps promise relies on HFC networks already built

Telstra and Optus' existing HFC networks will be be crucial for the Coalition to even meet less than half of its 25Mbps promise in 2016, and despite the criticism of the proposal, NBN Co board member Simon Hackett has said that HFC still has a lot to offer.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Turnbull says NBN should have cost $20 billion

Malcolm Turnbull has hit the airwaves to continue to defend the Coalition NBN and to attack Labor's. For the first time he has said that the NBN should have cost $20 billion.

Source: iTWire

Hackett promises fast HFC for NBN

NBN Co board member and Internode co-founder Simon Hackett has shed some light on the Coalition's plans for repurposing the hybrid coaxial-fibre (HFC) networks originally devised and deployed in the 90s for television transmissions.

Source: iTnews Australia

Turnbull says Labor wasted $20b on NBN

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused the former Labor government of wasting up to $20 billion on the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN), but says the money lost could have been more than twice that amount.

Source: Computerworld

Fri, 13th Dec 2013

HFC suburbs NBN no man's land

A third of Australia will be left to rot on struggling cable broadband networks after the Coalition further downscaled the national fibre network.

Source: SMH

Labor critic appointed to 'independent' NBN review panel

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has appointed Labor critic Henry Ergas to the independent expert panel to conduct a cost-benefit analysis into broadband and NBN regulation.

Source: ZDNet Australia

ACCC approves NBN Co's special access undertaking

NBN Co’s special access undertaking (SAU) has at last been approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Source: Computerworld

1Gbps over copper standard fast-tracked

The International Telecommunications Union is fast-tracking work on the official standard for a technology that allows digital subscriber line (DSL) copper broadband to reach up to one gigabit per second speeds over short distances.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co should stick to network construction, not retail services: iiNet

Although iiNet supports the NBN Co's Strategic Review of the National Broadband Network, acting CEO, David Buckingham, said it needs to take a step back from the retail services space.

Source: ARN

Thu, 12th Dec 2013

Updated: NBN Co releases strategic review

At least 90 per cent of Australians would get broadband speeds of about 50 Mbps by year-end 2019 under a Coalition proposal to overhaul the NBN.

Source: Computerworld