Broadband News

Wed, 30th Oct 2013

Telstra and NBN Co to face off in court

Telstra is taking NBN Co to the NSW Supreme Court based on a matter concerning renting the telco’s pits and ducts under its $11 billion agreement.

Source: ARN

Half a million NBN fibre connections in limbo

NBN Co has culled ready for service dates for 506,850 premises in brownfields suburbs across Australia, casting doubt on whether those households will ever receive a fibre-to-the-home connection.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 29th Oct 2013

No decision yet on NBN ban: Huawei

Huawei has said the government has indicated that a review on its ban from tendering for the NBN is still underway, despite reports that the ban would remain in place.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN ban on Huawei to stay: George Brandis

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is still hoping to have a federal ban on its involvement in building Australia's national broadband network overturned, despite Attorney-General George Brandis saying it will not be lifted.

Source: SMH

Mon, 28th Oct 2013

Telstra considers LTE-Broadcast for software updates

Telstra has conducted a world-first trial of LTE-Broadcast, which the company says can be used to reduce congestion on the network when software updates are pushed out.

Source: ZDNet Australia

ISPs await invites into new anti-piracy talks

Australia's internet service providers are awaiting official invitation into a fresh round of talks to be convened by the Attorney-General's Department on ways to combat online piracy.

Source: iTnews Australia

M2 to cut staff in post-acquisition restructure

Following the acquisitions of Dodo and Eftel, telecommunications company M2 has announced a restructure of the company, with up to 100 positions being made redundant.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra tests LTE Broadcast tech for more efficient data delivery

Telstra has completed a trial of 4G LTE Broadcast technology, becoming the first telco in the world to do so.

Source: Computerworld

Fri, 25th Oct 2013

MyNetFone may pick up PennyTel customers

VoIP provider MyNetFone has given strong indications that it is moving to pick up PennyTel and iVoisys customers left hanging after the companies were placed into liquidation, but no deal has yet been signed.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Mobile OS updates shape as turf war

Telstra, Optus and Vodafone intend to continue vetting smartphone operating system updates, despite efforts by OS makers to deliver updates directly to users, potentially bypassing OEM and carrier testing entirely.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co chair commits to Suncorp role

The chairman of both Suncorp and NBN Co, Ziggy Switkowski, has said that he will stay the chairman of Suncorp despite his new responsibilities at NBN Co.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Thu, 24th Oct 2013

First new gTLDs added to the root

The Internet - or at least its namespace - just got bigger. Early this morning, while most of Australia was eating breakfast or getting ready for work, four new top-level domains were added to the Internet's domain name root zone.

Source: Computerworld

Telstra talks up copper as it prepares for NBN negotiations

Telstra CEO David Thodey has again talked up the value of the copper network as the company begins to lay out what it wants out of a renegotiated deal with NBN Co.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN Co is one of our top 10 workplaces

NBN Co has leapt into Australia's top 10 most 'InDemand' employers after LinkedIn released its list of most sought-after workplaces today.

Source: iTWire

iiNet sees domestic capacity as new ISP 'choke point'

ISP iiNet believes domestic transmission costs have replaced international capacity costs as the "choke point" for internet service providers.

Source: iTnews Australia

Complaints drop 25 percent but Vodafone still Australia's worst: TIO

The TIO fielded 25 percent fewer complaints about Vodafone in the 2012-13 financial year, but the troubled telco still got more complaints than Telstra and Optus put together.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra shuffles the deck

Telstra has announced a major reorganisation of its senior management, and a 'refined long term strategy'.

Source: iTWire

Telstra puts more LTE-Advanced trials on roadmap

Telstra will conduct a fresh round of trials of LTE carrier aggregation technology this financial year, combining 700 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrum assets to see if theoretical speeds of 300 Mbps are possible.

Source: iTnews Australia

Slow broadband not sustainable, Europe tech chief says

Slow broadband is not sustainable, a European tech chief says, with better infrastructure key to faster Internet.

Source: ABC News

Wed, 23rd Oct 2013

Mobile phone complaints plummet

Consumer complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) reached a five-year low in 2012-13 with all major telcos, including Vodafone, recording declines in complaints received.

Source: iTWire

Revealed: What Telstra wants added to NBN deal

Telstra will need to add fresh usage rights and a cutover mechanism to the definitive agreements it holds with NBN Co in order to make them fit-for-purpose under the revised National Broadband Network project.

Source: iTnews Australia

Telstra free to make TPG-style basement fibre play

Telstra's definitive agreements with NBN Co and the government would not preclude it from pursuing a fibre-to-the-basement rollout similar to that planned by TPG, though the incumbent isn't about to "do anything crazy" on that front.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN campaign targets Turnbull's electorate

Supporters of FttP broadband have crowdsourced enough money to target Australian Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull's electorate with a full-page advertisement in his local newspaper.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra promotes Kate McKenzie to lead Operations

Telstra has made Kate McKenzie its chief operations officer after promoting current COO Brendon Riley to run a new business unit focused on enterprise services.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co makes Mike Kaiser redundant

New NBN Co boss Ziggy Switkowski has made the role of Labor stalwart and former NBN Co head of quality Mike Kaiser redundant in order to bring in former Telstra executive JB Rousselot.

Source: iTnews Australia

Ex-Telstra executive director to head NBN Co review

NBN Co's executive chairman, Ziggy Switkowski, has announced that former Telstra executive director JB Rousselot will lead the strategic review into the government-owned company's rollout of the National Broadband Network.

Source: Computerworld

NBN Co to start fibre-to-the-basement field trials

NBN Co will begin fibre-to-the-basement technology trials in a mix of multi-dwelling units and other complex premises types in the first quarter of next year.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 22nd Oct 2013

Telstra very softly launches two-plan Belong ISP

The new ISP offers 70GB and 250GB plans for residents of metropolitan NSW in select locations.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra bushfire warning

Telstra says back up your data and be prepared to move quickly - a computer can easily be replaced but data - especially scanned photos and documents cannot. It could be a good time to activate that cloud account.

Source: iTWire

Google to take on Internet censorship

Google has announced a number of new services in a targeted effort to protect news organisations and human rights groups from cyber effects and, more broadly, 'free expression' on the Internet.

Source: iTWire