Broadband News

Tue, 10th May 2011

Leighton to build its own Singapore-Perth cable

Australian construction giant Leighton Holdings has signed an agreement with Alcatel-Lucent to build a 4800km submarine cable network between Singapore and Perth.

Source: iTnews Australia

Vocus completes dark fibre purchase

Wholesale telecom operator, Vocus Communications, has closed the purchase of a dark fibre telecom operator for nearly $4 million.

Source: Computerworld

iiNet targets 16 NBN points of interconnect

ISP iiNet has identified 16 points of interconnect it will target for customer growth in the stage one and two builds of the national broadband network.

Source: iTnews Australia

Will World of Warcraft drive ISP IPv6 adoption?

Whether IT networking boffins like it or not, one of the biggest drivers toward IPv6 adoption may turn out to be Blizzard’s massively online multiplayer monolith, World of Warcraft (WoW).

Source: Computerworld

Oakeshott looks for NBN "bang for buck" in inquiry

Nbn Co will be required to appear before a new parliamentary committee at least twice a year.

Source: Computerworld

Telcos score big with $1.85 trillion in 2010

Telecoms service providers throughout the world harvested a fortune in 2010, growing their revenues by 4% in 2010 to reach a massive US$1.85 trillion, according to new figures. Much of the growth was driven by mobile carriers in the new global engine economies, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Source: iTWire

Telstra, iiNet continue DSLAM rollout in wake of NBN

Telstra has defended upgrades to broadband services in northern Tasmania where NBN Co is set to begin connecting customers.

Source: ARN

Mon, 09th May 2011

NBN Co reveals B2B gateway architecture

NBN Co plans to schedule a weekly "change window" between 2am and 6am where it can service its B2B gateway - the IT interconnection point with ISP systems.

Source: iTnews Australia

Budget 2011: AIIA wish list

Ahead of Treasurer Wayne Swan delivering his fourth Federal Budget tomorrow night, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has released its wish list for what it thinks the government should focus its ICT investment on for the next 12 months.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Westnet delivers on regional broadband upgrade

iiNet subsidiary Westnet has delivered on its promise to roll out ADSL2+ services to homes in Western Australia under a $5 million broadband infrastructure upgrade for regional Australia.

Source: Computerworld

Westnet completes WA ADSL2+ rollout

iiNet-owned Western Australian telco Westnet has announced that it has completed the Western Australian portion of its $5 million ADSL2+ network roll-out across Australia.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Optus to launch converged IPTV service with FetchTV

Optus is partnering with wholesale IPTV service provider, FetchTV to jointly develop a converged IPTV service that will be available over is fixed broadband network and on smartphones and tablet devices.

Source: iTWire

Internode turns 20

South Australia-based ISP, Internode, has celebrated its 20th birthday.

Source: ARN

iiNet begins Netspace billing migration

ISP iiNet has begun migrating Netspace customers onto its billing platform, after having acquired the Victorian company for $40 million last March.

Source: iTnews Australia

ISOC-AU calls on ISP participation for World IPv6 Day

The Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) has called on local businesses ISPs to participate in World IPv6 Day, with Internode the first major Aussie telco to sign up to the initiative.

Source: Computerworld

Stop the free calls rip-off says ACCAN

Australian peak telecoms consumer advocacy group, has called on the big three carriers, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, to end timed calls from mobiles to the 13, 1300 and 1800 numbers that used by government services and businesses. Such calls are billed as free or at cheap untimed rates of a maximum of 30c when called from landlines within Australia.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 06th May 2011

NBN Co chief expects build to stay on budget

NBN Co chief Mike Quigley has stated his expectation that the national broadband network can be deployed without blowing the $36 billion budget, despite delays in awarding construction contracts.

Source: iTnews Australia

200 remote homes to get 6Mbps NBN satellite trial from Optus and IPstar

NBN Co has announced a new trial for 200 homes in remote regions for its new 6Mbps satellite broadband service, using Optus and IPstar as the service providers. A long way short of city broadband speeds, the new satellite service promises peak download speeds of 6Mbps and uploads of up to 1Mbps.

Source: iTWire

Telcos to pay for slow connections, repairs

Those customers who rage at the ridiculous amount of time that a telecommunications provider is taking to repair a fault or to connect a line may soon have a legal avenue to follow after the introduction of benchmark reforms.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN Co confirms Optus, IPSTAR satellite contracts

National Broadband Network (NBN) wholesaler NBN Co has awarded satellite operators Optus and IPSTAR contracts worth a total $300 million for managed satellite services to three per cent of Australian premises, confirming ndustry speculation surrounding the service.

Source: Computerworld

iiNet's IPv6 to hit customers soon

National broadband provider iiNet has told customers not to worry about the impending shortage of IPv4 internet addresses, noting that it was currently running trials with the next version 6 of the Internet Protocol, and that it expected to start including portions of its customer base soon.

Source: iTWire

Telstra 'threatened to dump' NBN deal

Telstra threatened to walk away from an $11 billion deal with NBN Co unless the federal government allowed the telco giant to charge smaller players high prices to access its network, the Australian Greens and telco industry sources say.

Source: Computerworld

NBN boss looks to fix costs of labour

NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley says he "believes" the $36 billion broadband fibre network can still be built to budget.

Source: Australian IT

iiNet: Online strategy discussion lacking in NBN debate

Australia needs a game plan on how to best utilise the National Broadband Network (NBN, according to Perth-based ISP, iiNet.

Source: ARN

Thu, 05th May 2011

iiNet slams Telstra over VoIP stance

National broadband provider iiNet has responded to comments by Telstra that consumer-grade Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony isn't yet reliable enough for use by pointing out that it has 170,000 customers using the technology - and they're very happy, thank you very much.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Internode lets loose two Billion IPv6 and an NBN-ready router

The number of routers ready for the IPv6 and NBN world grows, with the addition of the two Billion routers to Internode's lineup.

Source: PC Authority

ACMA puts the brakes on fax marketing

The ACMA has finalised rules governing the delivery of fax-based marketing messages, as part of the Do-Not-Call regime, limiting the times at which these can be sent and their frequency.

Source: iTWire

Selling the NBN dream

A little over a week ago Fairfax and News Ltd each ran a story about a collection of prominent Australians who would sell the benefits of the National Broadband Network to the Australian population.

Source: ZDNet Australia

US judge rules out IP address evidence in file-sharing case

Judge accuses prosecution of "fishing trips" by using IP address evidence to identify alleged file-sharers.

Source: PC Authority

IPSTAR joins NBN interim satellite talks

Australian satellite operator IPSTAR is likely to become one of several sub-contractors to Optus under a deal to provide interim satellite services under the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Source: Computerworld