Broadband News

Tue, 30th Nov 2021

Aussie Broadband and YourDC partner for Adelaide dark fibre build

​Telecommunications provider Aussie Broadband has teamed up with data centre operator YourDC to roll out 112km of dark fibre across Adelaide.

Source: ARN

Mon, 29th Nov 2021

Telcos get new powers to block malicious SMS scams at scale

Australian telcos have been handed new powers to prevent malicious SMS messages from being sent, by automatically detecting and blocking them at a network level.

Source: iTnews Australia

Fri, 19th Nov 2021

When NBN promo deals end, customers and telcos revert to old speeds

The latest edition of the NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has revealed the number of connections on NBN's 250/25Mbps Superfast and 500-1000Mbps/50Mbps Ultrafast plans has dropped by nearly 200,000 lines.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra vs. Optus 5G home internet plans: How do they compare

How do Telstra and Optus 5G home internet plans compare?

Source: WhistleOut

TPG Telecom makes fresh play to be a 'more robust competitor to NBN Co'

TPG Telecom has set in motion a plan that would release it from rules that curtailed its fixed-line infrastructure ambitions and "likely" make it a “more robust competitor to NBN Co”.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 18th Nov 2021

TPG Telecom paves way for functional separation

Australia’s national competition watchdog is seeking feedback on a proposed joint functional separation of TPG Telecom.

Source: ARN

Labor to give 30,000 families free NBN for a year

Federal Labor has pledged to fund an NBN service for 30,000 families currently without a home internet connection for a year, while a longer-term strategy is created.

Source: iTnews Australia

Wed, 17th Nov 2021

The NBN has been 'fully operational' for almost a year, but some Australians still don't have reliable internet

Fixed wireless connections are typically used in regional and rural areas, but many Australians are still struggling with access and reliability issues.

Source: ABC News

Labor commits to making AU$2.4b 'investment' to extend on-demand FttN upgrades

The Australian Labor Party has said that should it win government at the next election, it would be spending AU$2.4 billion to extend the existing NBN fibre to the node (FttN) upgrade plan to a further 1.5 million premises.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Vandals topple second Vic NBN wireless tower in four years

Saboteurs have caused an NBN fixed wireless tower in Victoria’s Gippsland region to collapse, the second such incident in the area in the past four years.

Source: iTnews Australia

You now have three new choices for 5G home internet plans

Following on from TPG and Vodafone launching 5G home internet plans, sibling brands iiNet, Internode, and Westnet have followed suit. The trio are all offering identical plans, but the pricing varies slightly from TPG and Vodafone's offering.

Source: WhistleOut

TPG Telecom and Samsung complete 5G virtualised RAN trials with 26GHz mmWave

TPG Telecom and Samsung Electronics Australia have expanded their 5G mmWave technology collaboration to more trial sites after successfully completing the first 5G virtualised, radio access network (vRAN) trials with 26GHz mmWave in Australia.

Source: iTWire

Fletcher says, Labor can't be trusted on the NBN

Based on the reported leaked Labor NBN policy, the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, Paul Fletcher issued a statement.

Source: iTWire

Tue, 16th Nov 2021

Labor's early election pledge to offer fibre to "nearly 7 in 8" FTTN users

Federal Labor has pledged an extra $2.4 billion of NBN upgrades if it wins the 2022 election, enabling 90 percent of Australians in the fixed line footprint to order gigabit speed services by 2025.

Source: iTnews Australia

Analyst puts Labor NBN plan in same basket as govt efforts

Labor's announcement that it would provide $2.4 billion for an additional 1.5 million homes to be provided with fibre if it were elected to office has been dismissed as "a continuation of the muddling-on process seen over the last decade."

Source: iTWire

NBN providers with 4G backup

NBN outages can and will happen, but there are a number of providers that now offer NBN plans with 4G backup.

Source: WhistleOut

Vodafone triples 5G coverage, but there's a catch

Vodafone today announced it has tripled its 5G coverage, hitting its target of bringing the next generation network to 85% of the population in ten of the nation's biggest cities. These include Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Wollongong, and the Central Coast.

Source: WhistleOut

Vodafone launches unlimited data 4G Home Internet

Vodafone launched a new 4G Home Internet plan with unlimited data, for existing mobile customers.

Source: iTWire

Wed, 10th Nov 2021

Get a $1,000 gift card if you sign-up to a JB Hi-Fi SIM-only mobile plan

JB Hi-Fi is offering customers as much as a $1,000 gift card if they swap to Telstra via one of its SIM-only mobile plans. $69 per month will get you an 80GB allowance and a $400 gift card, or $99 per month will get you 200GB and a $1,000 gift card.

Source: WhistleOut

NBN Co caps fibre upgrade trial numbers to a maximum of 525 premises

NBN Co has substantially revised down the number of premises that will actually participate in its full fibre upgrade trials from now through mid-March, clarifying that the number is capped at 525.

Source: iTnews Australia

Cheap nbn™ plans for every household

Looking to get the NBN on a budget? The good news is there are some cheaper plans on the market that you can pick from.

Source: WhistleOut

Telstra boosts mobile site power resiliency ahead of disaster season

Telstra has boosted battery back-up power at 341 mobile tower sites in regional Australia, extending power reserves from three hours up to 12 hours for some of the country’s most remote towns. The upgrades were made with assistance from the Australian Government’s Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters (STAND) program.

Source: iTWire

Malcolm Turnbull needs to explain dodgy cut-down NBN rollout figures

Malcolm Turnbull has some explaining to do about the costs of the NBN this morning, after Guardian Australia reported figures hidden in a report commissioned by him showed a full-fibre NBN or a multi-technology mix would have cost about the same.

Source: iTWire

Tue, 09th Nov 2021

NBN Co puts broadband tax target back on cellular, LEO operators

NBN Co has renewed calls to have 5G fixed wireless operators pay the $7.10 per user per month broadband tax, while also flagging the possibility of charging low earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators as well.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 08th Nov 2021

NBN Co offers to upgrade up to 6000 FTTN customers from this month

NBN Co intends to take as many as 6000 orders for upgrades from fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) this month as its $2.9 billion program shifts into a trial mode.

Source: iTnews Australia

200,000 premises earmarked for NBN upgrade

NBN Co is to upgrade its fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network in more suburbs across the country, adding 200,000 more premises to its higher internet speed connection rollout.

Source: ARN

NBN looking to open FttN upgrade orders in March 2022

The company responsible for the National Broadband Network has said it is expecting users to be able to place orders with retailers in March 2022. Until then, NBN is asking people to register their interest.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Fri, 05th Nov 2021

Telstra will give you a month of NBN for $1, but Aussie Broadband will do it for free

Who doesn’t love a little bit of healthy competition? Right now Telstra will give you a month of NBN for $1, and Aussie Broadband is undercutting the provider to give you the same thing for free.

Source: WhistleOut

TPG Telecom brings business-grade fast fibre offering to regions

TPG Telecom has begun offering its fast fibre broadband product to businesses in regional areas of Australia through its own enterprise-grade fibre network.

Source: iTnews Australia

Telstra finally wraps up $1.8bn Defence network overhaul

After eight years and more than $1.8 billion, the Department of Defence has finally reached the end of its long-delayed fixed telecommunications network replacement project with Telstra.

Source: iTnews Australia