Broadband News
Tue, 23rd Aug 2011
Prices to go up and up on NBN: Turnbull
Australians will pay more for broadband services from a National Broadband Network (NBN) than via current service providers, opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says.
Source: ZDNet Australia
EFTel buys out Platform Networks
ASX-listed internet service provider EFTel has bought sub-wholesale operator Platform Networks for an undisclosed sum.
Source: iTnews Australia
Turnbull warns of above CPI NBN price rises
Opposition communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has warned that a special access undertaking (SAU) lodged with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) could see National Broadband Network (NBN) prices rise dramatically in future years.
Source: Computerworld
Turnbull's NBN Co price warnings only half the story
Shadow Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has issued a lengthy press release claiming that NBN Co is seeking the freedom to hike its wholesale prices at rates way above inflation, but this is a gross over-simplification of a very complex issue.
Source: iTWire
Mon, 22nd Aug 2011
Red Bull starts mobile service on Vodafone
Red Bull will take its first step into the mobile market, with the company planning to launch a virtual mobile network on the back of Vodafone's 3G network.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ispONE claims to be first "wholesale-only" NBN reseller
ispONE, a provider of white-labelled Internet access and telephone services to 'virtual' ISPs, has become an NBN Co certified service provider and claims to be the first dedicated to providing wholesale services.
Source: iTWire
Internode sets up shop in Northern Territory
Internet service provider Internode has activated its first direct ADSL2+ services in the Northern Territory on the back of the Federal Government's $250 million Regional Broadband Blackspot Program.
Source: iTnews Australia
Internode takes on Telstra in Alice Springs
ISP, Internode, has turned up the heat on broadband in Alice Springs, offering ADSL2+ services in competition with Telstra.
Source: ARN
Keeping copper will gold-plate USO: Optus
Optus has called for the government to abandon plans to maintain Telstra's copper network to uphold the universal service obligation in areas where the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be delivered via wireless or satellite.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Alcatel scandal ties up NBN resources
The employment of NBN executives at Alcatel was the subject of more than 3700 emails exchanged between NBN Co, its lawyers and the government.
Source: Australian IT
Fri, 19th Aug 2011
ACCC calls for submissions from non-NBN owned fibre suppliers
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a discussion paper seeking submissions on the service description from non-NBN last mile fibre telecoms in order to create a framework for the ACCC to regulate their services.
Source: iTWire
Cable lobby warns action on aerial NBN plans
Lobby group Cables Downunder has warned of "Optus-style demonstrations" by residents angry at a Federal Government proposal to relax rules governing overhead cable rollouts ahead of the National Broadband Network.
Source: iTnews Australia
Coonan delivers final NBN swipe
Outgoing former Howard Government Minister for Communications, Helen Coonan, has used her valedictory speech in the Senate to take a swipe at Labor's National Broadband Network (NBN) project, saying that the OPEL project would already be delivering fast broadband to regional Australians today.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN negotiator put on backburner
The NSW Government has yet to fill a coordinator role to open up utility infrastructure to the National Broadband Network rollout, nine months after passing accompanying legislation.
Source: iTnews Australia
NetComm signs $200m NBN Co deal
Australians in rural and regional areas will be connected to the NBN Co's 2.3Ghz LTE fixed-wireless broadband network using devices provided by NetComm (ASX:NTC) following the signing of a deal with Ericsson, estimated to be worth $200 million.
Source: Computerworld
Thu, 18th Aug 2011
AARNet to dedicate fibre-optic channel to time
The Federal Government has pledged $600,000 to a four-year attempt to distribute accurate time information along research network operator AARNet's fibre links.
Source: iTnews Australia
iiNet's Westnet division suffers Aussie-based DDoS attack
The email servers of Westnet, a subsidiary of internet service provider, iiNet, was hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack from within Australia yesterday morning between 8AM and 10:30AM WA time.
Source: Computerworld
Telstra called to help find missing plane
Telstra engineers have been called in to use mobile tower triangulation to help find an ultralight plane carrying two men, which failed to return to a central Queensland airport.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Wed, 17th Aug 2011
Amcom reports 50% profit jump
Perth-based fibre network provider Amcom has reported a 50 per cent jump in full-year net profits, which have risen to $25.9 million on the back of its recent divestment of shares in iiNet.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN the answer to disability and disadvantaged: Conroy
Communications minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has sought to position the National Broadband Network (NBN) as a means to connect those who are digitally isolated as a result of age, illness or disability.
Source: Computerworld
Turnbull: We should not to look at information in the digital age through rose coloured glasses
Many have argued that information in the digital age is creating the most transparent and efficient markets by increasing our capacity to store and compute and elevating the ability to send information at great speeds.
Source: ARN
Conroy compares NBN cross-subsidy to postage stamps and ATMs
If Australia Post can have national uniform pricing for postage stamps and banks can have it for ATM transaction charges, then the cross-subsidy scheme for the National Broadband Network (NBN) wholesale pricing is perfectly acceptable, according to Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy.
Source: ARN
Tue, 16th Aug 2011
Treasury docs show NBN worries evolve
While the Treasury did raise serious concerns about the financial risks posed by the National Broadband Network (NBN) two years ago, it seems that the government has gone a long way towards addressing those concerns in the intervening two years.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra blamed for iiNet regional decline
Iinet has blamed expensive Telstra port prices in regional and rural Australia for a portion of the 43,000 off-net broadband customers that it lost in the last financial year.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra squeezes regional customers from iiNet
Internet service provider iiNet has attributed a significant loss of off-net customers over the 2011 financial year to continuing price squeezes from Telstra in regional areas.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 15th Aug 2011
Acqusitions lead iiNet to 48% revenue hike
Perth-based ISP iiNet (ASX:IIN) has recorded a 48 per cent increase in revenue for the year ending 30 June 2011, citing acquisitions of both Netspace and AAPT's consumer division as the driving factors behind the growth.
Source: Computerworld
Optus appeals $5.26m misleading ad fines
Optus has confirmed that it has lodged an appeal against the $5.26 million fine imposed upon it by the Federal Court for misleading advertising aired last year.
Source: ZDNet Australia
iiNet revenue soars, profit down marginally
Perth-based ISP, iiNet, has returned a 48 per cent hike in revenue for the 2010/11 financial year.
Source: ARN
There are no NBN apps: Turnbull
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been spruiking coalition broadband policy this month. A core point, he says, is that there are no applications for National Broadband Network (NBN) speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps). Is he right?
Source: ZDNet Australia
Fri, 12th Aug 2011
Bid for greater NBN roll-out power too much to bear?
The NBN saga continues unfolding, with the latest exciting development seeing the Federal Government propose the alarming utilisation of "Commonwealth regulation rather than State and Territory planning laws" in its quest to cable up the country.
Source: iTWire