Broadband News
Fri, 09th Dec 2011
NBN Co's role in housing estates under scrutiny
The Productivity Commission has warned that NBN Co's role deploying fibre to greenfield housing developments could unbalance competition in the sector.
Source: iTnews Australia
Call made to tally up NBN benefits
The social benefits of the National Broadband Network should be quantified, an independent inquiry has urged.
Source: Australian IT
Thu, 08th Dec 2011
NBN as secretive as Scientology: Turnbull
As the year draws to a close, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has outlined operational concerns with the roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) and worries that the project will go way over the budget.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Internode video streams music festival, looks to expand content business
South Australia-based ISP, Internode, has kicked-started its entertainment content plans with the streaming of the first Gorgeous Festival at McLaren Vale.
Source: ARN
Townsfolk reject wireless NBN
The NBN has come under fire in a Victorian country town who question why a wireless tower will be built instead of fibre cable.
Source: Australian IT
Wed, 07th Dec 2011
Turnbull launches renewed attack on NBN
Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has re-iterated the Federal Opposition's criticisms of the NBN, and added a few new ones, in a 3000 word essay posted on his blog.
Source: iTWire
How ISPs got caught up in the Internet wars
The Internet has fuelled an ongoing global conflict that will engulf all of us, claims Australian political commentator and author Bernard Keane.
Source: iTnews Australia
iiNet voices concern over NBN access plan
Australia's number three internet service provider (ISP), iiNet, has raised concerns over a number of aspects of NBN Co's Special Access Undertaking (SAU), lodged to the competition regulator yesterday.
Source: Computerworld
UK porn blocker lets explicit videos through
Filter bug allows content from one of the web's biggest explicit video sites through ISP's net.
Source: PC Authority
Tue, 06th Dec 2011
How much control does AFACT have?
As the epic High Court legal battle between iiNet and the film studios wrapped up, the theme of the three-day trial was clear: it is a matter of choice versus control; iiNet's and AFACT's.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Xenophobia may be prudent for the NBN
There has been so much discussion about the effect of the NBN on local telecommunications providers that it seems the industry has entirely ignored what could very well be an even bigger disruptive threat: the way the network will facilitate the entry of overseas telcos into Australia's local-access market for the first time.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACMA study augers well for NBN uptake
The ACMA is predicting a new wave of innovative, interactive applications and services, driven by the availability of 'next generation networks'. While high bandwidth is not necessarily a feature of an NGN, nor of the expected applications, realisation of the ACMA's forecast will inevitably lead to increased demand for bandwidth.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co retreats on price-hike clause
After harsh criticism from the coalition, the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) has announced that it will limit wholesale price increases to half of the yearly inflation, and will freeze all wholesale prices for the first five years of the operation of the network.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Vodafone offers network guarantee
Vodafone Australia has quietly rolled out provisions allowing customers to terminate their contracts within 30 days of signing up without further charges in a new bid to attract new and former subscribers.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co lodges undertaking to watchdog
NBN Co has finally lodged a special access undertaking to the competition watchdog, nearly nine months after initially planned.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 05th Dec 2011
Oz slides on OECD fixed-broadband ranks
Australia has slipped from 18th to 21st in the latest Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) rankings for fixed-broadband services, while wireless percentages continue to soar.
Source: ZDNet Australia
iiTrial: High Court weighs ISP responsibilities
Just how much notice should an ISP take of alleged breaches of copyright occuring over its network and what can it do to prevent further breaches?
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra to lodge revised SSU 'shortly' & no 'material changes'
Following press reports that the ACCC will be unable to reach a decision on Telstra's structural separation undertaking by the 20 December deadline, both parties have expressed confidence that this timeframe will be met.
Source: iTWire
Telstra shutters wireless hotspots
Telstra has moved to shut down its national wireless hotspot service from next year, continuing the trend away from the technology as an offload service from mobile networks in Australia.
Source: iTnews Australia
Trans-Tasman roaming cost enquiry progresses - slowly
DBCDE has called tenders for the provision of economic consultancy advice as part of the joint Australia-New Zealand investigation into trans-Tasman mobile roaming costs.
Source: iTWire
Sat, 03rd Dec 2011
High Court day 3: AFACT's final pitch
It would be in iiNet's economic interest to stop people using BitTorrent because it is such a bandwidth hog, the court heard on the final day of the High Court hearing between iiNet and the consortium of film and television studios known as the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT).
Source: ZDNet Australia
Fri, 02nd Dec 2011
High Court day 2: iiNet says AFACT lawsuit inevitable
No matter what kind of warning notice scheme iiNet put in place to stop users breaching copyright, if it didn't include an account termination threat, it wouldn't have been enough to prevent the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) from launching legal action, iiNet counsel Richard Cobden has told the High Court.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra-NBN deal timing called into question
Questions have been raised as to whether the deal between the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) and Telstra can be completed by 20 December, at which point the deal would be terminated.
Source: ZDNet Australia
iiTrial: AFACT dismisses individual user suits
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has sought to downplay the relevance of section 202 of the Copyright Act in its ongoing battle with service provider iiNet.
Source: iTnews Australia
iiTrial: ISPs 'set up' by rights holders
Communications Alliance counsel Patrick Flynn has accused rights holders of "setting up" internet providers by delivering them an ultimatum to become copyright enforcers or be sued.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 01st Dec 2011
iiTrial: Court mulls 'partially effective' ISP warnings
The Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) has added weight to the proposition that passing on copyright infringement notices is only a "partially effective" means of an ISP avoiding accusations of authorisation.
Source: iTnews Australia
"Final" wholesale agreement a work in progress: NBN Co
Despite publishing its "final executable" Wholesale Broadband Agreement (WBA), NBN Co has conceded that the contract terms will continue to be open for consultation with industry and customers for further development.
Source: Computerworld
iiTrial: AFACT grilled on 'reasonable steps' for iiNet
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has faced tough questions from three of five High Court Justices over the efficacy of an ISP warning its users of alleged copyright infringements.
Source: iTnews Australia
Wed, 30th Nov 2011
iiTrial: Comms Alliance, APRA allowed to intervene
The High Court today dismissed four of six applications for amicus curiae, or "friends of the court", as hearings between service provider iiNet and content owners began in Canberra.
Source: iTnews Australia
iiNet vs. AFACT: the road to High Court
Today marks the beginning of the end for the landmark copyright infringement battle between iiNet and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT). ZDNet Australia looks back into the three-year history of the case.
Source: ZDNet Australia