Broadband News
Thu, 19th Dec 2013
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
TPG loses appeal, AU$2m fine restored by Australian High Court
The High Court of Australia has ruled in favour of the ACCC, reinstating the AU$2 million fine for misleading advertising handed down to TPG by the Federal Court last year.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Coalition NBN to cost $41bn, miss delivery dates
The Coalition is already predicting an $11.5 billion blowout to the cost of building its version of the national broadband network, but says it will still cost less than Labor's scheme.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co releases strategic review
At least 90 per cent of Australians would get broadband speeds of about 50Mbps by year-end 2019 under a Coalition proposal to overhaul the NBN.
Source: Computerworld
Review finds Coalition's NBN plan to cost billions more than promised
A review of the National Broadband Network says the Coalition's plan will be billions of dollars more expensive than promised before the election.
Source: ABC News
ACCC finally accepts NBN Co's access terms
After two long years of consultation, the competition watchdog has finally accepted NBN Co's special access undertaking.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co poaches VHA chief Bill Morrow: reports
NBN Co is reportedly poised to name current Vodafone Australia chief Bill Morrow as a permanent replacement for Mike Quigley, who retired in July.
Source: iTnews Australia
Wed, 11th Dec 2013
Stop the boat talk, NBN's operations matter more: Turnbull
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended his links to NBN Co's head of strategy JB Rousselot, stating that the executive is well suited to work for the network company.
Source: ZDNet Australia