Broadband News
Fri, 18th Mar 2011
NBN plan assailed over curbs on retail
Key legislation proposed for the National Broadband Network faces a scathing new attack from big business and the Coalition.
Source: Australian IT
Thu, 17th Mar 2011
Stop NBN from creeping into retail Opposition demands
The Federal Coalition has launched a campaign to stop NBN Co from retailing broadband services to utilities and telecoms carriers for their internal communications needs. According to the Coalition, two key National Broadband Network (NBN) Bills, due to be debated in Parliament on Monday, if passed without amendments would allow the NBN to creep into the retail market.
Source: iTWire
Senate Committee says pass NBN bills
The Senate Committee examining the NBN companies and access bills has recommended they be passed without change, largely ignoring industry concerns.
Source: iTnews Australia
ACMA seeks views on numbering plan
ACMA is contemplating increasing revenue from its phone number allocation regime as it moves into the third phase of the numbering plan.
Source: Australian IT
NBN Co supplying directly to utilities deemed acceptable by Senate Committee
Utility companies wishing to procure National Broadband Network (NBN) services directly through NBN Co should be allowed to do so, according to a Senate Committee report.
Source: ARN
Critics brand internet piracy report a 'translation' job
Australia's Attorney General Robert McClelland has been pulled up for quoting from a report on the economic impact of internet piracy that critics branded a "direct translation" of another controversial text.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN cherry picking rules to come under fire
Rules protecting the National Broadband Network's technological turf are expected to come under fire in a report due out on Thursday.
Source: ARN
CSIRO demos 12Mbps symmetrical NBN wireless technology
The CSIRO is to stage a demonstration of its broadband wireless technology claiming it to be superior to established technologies for the wireless component of the National Broadband Network.
Source: iTWire
It's not over yet, that's AFACT
While there have been lofty discussions about who was right and who was wrong in the court stoush between the AFACT and iiNet, it all gets down to authorisation.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Wed, 16th Mar 2011
NextGen completes Victor Harbour NBN link
Telco and network construction company NextGen Networks has completed laying a 146 kilometre fibre backbone link to South Australian town Victor Harbour and other rural locations as part of the National Broadband Network rollout, according to a statement issued today by the office of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co sets systems architecture baseline
NBN Co adopted TM Forum frameworks as a "starting point" for its operational and business support system architecture, partially to create a common understanding among the "legacy brains" it had hired.
Source: iTnews Australia
Conroy announces Australia-Korea broadband summit in Tasmania
Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conory, announced Hobart, Tasmania, will host the Korea-Australia-New Zealand (KANZ) Broadband Summit this year.
Source: ARN
Net classification costly: Telstra, RIM
Classifying all games and movies for mobile phones and the internet will be too costly and inefficient, according to Telstra and BlackBerry creator Research In Motion (RIM) submissions to a government inquiry.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Net is world's greatest spying machine
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, says the internet is the "greatest spying machine the world has ever seen" - and an obstacle to free speech.
Source: Australian IT
iiNet's piracy authority is only half a solution
The problem with iiNet's scheme is that its 'traffic police' analogy is far from apt for the situation which Australians find themselves in with respect to watching TV and movie content.
Source: Delimiter
Tue, 15th Mar 2011
iiNet: Set up independent body to tackle movie piracy
Iinet has proposed a way of dealing with copyright infringements involving an impartial referee which, it claims, can remedy the friction between ISPs and film studios.
Source: ARN
Telstra more than doubles prepaid data quotas
Telstra has significantly raised the data quotas on its prepaid phone plans with high-end products now carrying a 4GB monthly allowance.
Source: iTnews Australia
Best 3G wireless broadband modems
We test the latest HSDPA mobile broadband hardware on Telstra's, Vodafone's, Optus' and 3 Mobile's 3G networks.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Conroy gets "hands-on" at Geraldton fibre link launch
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy channels his inner network administrator at the opening of the Perth-Geraldton backhaul link - part of the Government's $250m backhaul blackspots scheme. All photos courtesy of Nextgen Networks.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra offers free International calls to Japan
Telstra customers wishing to check on loved ones in Japan can do so for free as the telco offers free calls and text messages to the disaster-stricken nation.
Source: ARN
NBN Co trying hard to sell NBN to end users
NBN Co is ramping up its efforts to 'sell' the benefits of the NBN to end users, releasing a series of case studies of NBN usage by Tasmanians.
Source: iTWire
Communications Alliance to look at consumer info on NBN rollout
Communications Alliance's NBN steering committee has approved the formation of a new working group to focus on consumer information relating to the rollout of the NBN.
Source: iTWire
AAPT to expand into infrastructure-as-a-service
Business telco AAPT has revealed plans to launch storage and server infrastructure-as-a-service products.
Source: iTnews Australia
Satellite not good enough for outback
Rural health providers fear the Australians living in remote areas will be disadvantaged by satellite provided by the National Broadband Network.
Source: Australian IT
FetchTV hints at new ISPs
The FetchTV will shortly be announcing new distribution partners, CEO Scott Lorson told PC & Tech Authority today.
Source: PC Authority
Mon, 14th Mar 2011
Telcos created NBN skills shortage: union
Telstra and the rest of the telco industry have been blamed for the dire lack of skills that could endanger the roll-out of the National Broadband Network.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co smooths ruffled Tassie feathers
The National Broadband Network Company has responded to criticism that it's not explaining its mission well to Tasmanian residents, saying that it had appointed a community relations manager in the state. It's also reassured those in areas to be served by wireless that existing ADSL broadband over Telstra's existing copper network won't be shut down for 10 years.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Stress less: NBN Co reassures Tasmania
Fledgling fibre monopoly NBN Co has responded to criticism that it's not explaining its mission well to Tasmanian residents, pointing out that it had appointed a community relations manager in the state, and reassuring those in areas to be served by wireless that existing ADSL broadband based on Telstra's existing copper network wouldn't be shut down for 10 years.
Source: Delimiter
Internet a lifeline in Japan disaster
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan has proved again how the internet offers a global information lifeline in a time of crisis.
Source: Australian IT
Sat, 12th Mar 2011
Quake damage to Japan cables appears small
Undersea telecommunications cables in and out of Japan seem to have mostly survived the devastating earthquake that struck the country on Friday.
Source: ARN