Broadband News
Thu, 25th Aug 2011
Optus reforms after call complaints
Optus has entered an enforceable undertaking to overhaul its telemarketing systems following an investigation held by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra nabs iiNet's customer guru
Internet service provider iiNet has confirmed the departure of its customer service general manager Paul Cahill after nine years with the company.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co's wireless admission
The NBN Co admits that wireless internet services in some areas could rival to the speed of basic services on the fibre network.
Source: Australian IT
Wed, 24th Aug 2011
Macquarie Telecom pens NBN deal
Macquarie Telecom (ASX: MAQ) has become the latest telco to sign a trial agreement with on the National Broadband Network (NBN) wholesaler, NBN Co, beginning a program to take advantage of the network once it becomes operational.
Source: Computerworld
NBN critic Vocus sees its benefits
Dark fibre provider and datacentre company Vocus has predicted that it stands to benefit from the roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN), despite being a member of the Alliance for Affordable Broadband, a strident critic of the NBN project.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra to roll out IPv6 to all customers
Telstra has confirmed that it will be set to roll out IPv6 later this year to all customers following impending IPv6 trials for its enterprise customers.
Source: Computerworld
NBN Co talks up competition from mobile services
NBN Co's submission to the ACCC on Telstra's structural separation undertakings goes to great lengths to counter the argument that restrictions stopping Telstra marketing mobile services as a direct substitute for the fixed network NBN will be detrimental to mobile competition, but in so doing it once again raises the spectre of the NBN being undermined by mobile broadband services.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co: Killing Telstra copper is the only solution
Decommissioning Telstra's copper network and migrating all its residential customers on to the National Broadband Network (NBN) is the only viable way to ensure positive outcomes for both the telco industry and consumers, according to NBN Co and the Department of Broadband.
Source: ARN
6 Telstra customer service fails
What do you do when you find yourself with a faulty phone and the store refuses to replace it? Persist and speak to other people within the company until you reach someone who can help you.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Tue, 23rd Aug 2011
Lib MPs 'breaking ranks' to push for NBN
Liberal MPs are anxiously lobbying the government to have the NBN rolled out in their electorates, despite their party's opposition to the network.
Source: Australian IT
NBN backhaul costs hit little telcos: ispONE
Ceo of wholesale broadband provider ispONE, Zac Swindells, believes the government needs to address the lack of competitive backhaul in regional Australia in order to woo smaller internet service providers (ISPs) to offer services in those areas.
Source: ZDNet Australia
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