Broadband News
Thu, 14th Apr 2011
Vodafone network upgrade begins in Central Coast
Vodafone will initiate its $1 billion network upgrade in pockets of the Central Coast, Newcastle and Hunter region on April 19.
Source: ARN
Wed, 13th Apr 2011
UXC takes former NBN Co construction head
NBN Co's former head of construction Patrick Flannigan has taken up a full-time advisory role at IT systems integrator UXC.
Source: iTnews Australia
Internode gets mobile voice back on track
Internode has said that it hopes to offer 3G mobile voice services by the third quarter of the year, explaining that it hadn't brought them online last year as planned due to "competing internal development priorities".
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co takes on third-party pit damage costs
NBN Co has made a concession to greenfields developers that will see it shoulder responsibility for damage to pit-and-pipe infrastructure by third parties.
Source: iTnews Australia
Cockatoos suspected of breaking Telstra fibre
Telstra has fingered prolific numbers of cockatoos as the potential culprits behind damage to a temporary fibre cable put in place after floods in the Kimberley region last month.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN chief moves to calm nerves
Nbn Co boss Mike Quigley is again doing the rounds to reassure punters it's business as usual, with his construction tender process under way again.
Source: Australian IT
Tue, 12th Apr 2011
New Optus Networks boss all over 4G
Optus Networks new managing director, Günther Ottendorfer, has plenty of experience in telecommunications field to call on having spent more than 20 years with several European companies, including Deutsche Telekom and max.mobil.
Source: ARN
NZ broadband woes small compared to Oz
When a government is embarking on a massive multi-billion dollar project like broadband, shouldn't they get a national agreement, a consensus as to what they are trying to achieve, especially when billions of dollars of cash is at stake?
Source: ZDNet Australia
Ausgrid ponders NBN smart meter options
Energy companies could end up buying or spinning off internet service providers (ISPs) to subsidise the high cost of National Broadband Network (NBN) connections to support smart-meter roll-outs, an Ausgrid senior network executive has suggested.
Source: ZDNet Australia
"Lay off the Kool-Aid," Turnbull tells NBN believers
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull last night declared National Broadband Network enthusiasts needed to demonstrate what applications would actually need the fibre network's massively enhanced speeds, telling futurist Mark Pesce he needed to "lay off the kool-aid" with respect to the technology.
Source: Delimiter
Mon, 11th Apr 2011
Birks quits the AIIA
The peak representative group for Australia's technology vendors has started looking for a new chief executive, following a decision by its incumbent Ian Birks to leave his position to start his own consulting company.
Source: iTWire
Optus begins femtocell trial
Optus has begun the first commercial femtocell pilot in Australia. A femtocell can be regarded as a private 3G base station linked to the network via the customer's broadband connection.
Source: iTWire
Don't get caught in NBN 'hysteria': Conroy
The National Broadband Network (NBN) has hit a couple of speed bumps. NBN Co reckons that vendors over-priced their bids to construct the network, and earlier this month the entire tender process was suspended. Then, the head of construction resigned. Critics pounced. But Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy reckons we shouldn't get caught up in the "hysteria", but should wait and see what the "Plan B" tender process delivers.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Conroy feared giving Telstra $20bn war chest
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has revealed to the ABC that fears the national broadband network could be cherry-picked by Telstra pre-dated the current $36 billion plan announced two years ago.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN plan changed to avoid compensation
The Federal Government changed its original plan for the National Broadband Network (NBN) to avoid having to compensate Telstra to the tune of $20 billion, according to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Push for probe on 'NBN breaches'
A key fibre-to-the-home operator demands the Productivity Commission probe Labor's National Broadband Network for competition breaches.
Source: Australian IT
Net users logged on 21 hours a week
The internet has surged ahead in its dominance of consumers' media activities, with Australians increasing their time online by four hours a week last year.
Source: Australian IT
Sun, 10th Apr 2011
ACCAN & ISOC-AU launch consumer guide to NBN
ACCAN and the Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) have launched NBN: A Guide for Consumers, designed to offer all Australians information about the National Broadband Network.
Source: iTWire
Sat, 09th Apr 2011
NBN Co joins Whirlpool in Internode retort
The National Broadband Network Company has joined broadband forum Whirlpool in an attempt to better inform the public about its muli-billion dollar project, with its first post last night being an extensive entry providing information around its ISP pricing plans, in an apparent attempt to reply to sharp criticism of its model by Internode MD Simon Hackett.
Source: Delimiter
Fri, 08th Apr 2011
Eftel to double customer base with ClubTelco acquisition
Eftel is to acquire national internet service provider ClubTelco, adding some 60,000 mobile broadband, ADSL and VoIP customers to its books.
Source: Computerworld
Vocus buys dark fibre, customers for $4m
Network company Vocus Communications is on an acquisition spree with the announcement of the takeover the assets of dark fibre network provider Digital River Networks for $3.95 million.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Slash NBN cost, run fibre through sewers says provider
The National Broadband Network could be deployed much cheaper and quicker by using existing water and sewerage infrastructure rather then building new ducts to house fibre, according to a fibre infrastructure provider. The claim comes amid a continuing controversy over the cancelled NBN Co building tender, and accusations of price gouging by building companies.
Source: iTWire
iiNet crowns Australia's first Top Geek
After months of auditions, challenges and nervous waiting, internet service provider iiNet last night crowned Australia's first Top Geek.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra, Optus in NBN retail trial
NBN Co has signed up Telstra, Optus, iiNet and Internode, among others, to take part in customer trials of the high-speed internet network.
Source: Australian IT
Telstra, NBN Co tussle on pit-and-pipe ownership
Greenfields developers are caught in the crossfire of an unfolding spat between Telstra and NBN Co over pit and pipe ownership that threatens fibre rollout in new housing estates.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fears NBN bill could top $44bn
Fresh fears have emerged that the peak funding of the National Broadband Network could balloon beyond $44 billion.
Source: Australian IT
Thu, 07th Apr 2011
NBN Co urged to be more transparent
The company rolling out the National Broadband Network (NBN) has been urged to be more transparent about who will eventually lay its high-speed cables.
Source: ARN
Kokoda: Regulation essential to curb "criminal" ISPs
The Director of the Kokoda Foundation has stepped up calls for government regulation of the internet industry, to counter what he describes as "criminal" elements within the ISP community.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN builders fear blowout
Construction companies pitching to build Labor's NBN say the cost of capital works for the project could surge more than 50 per cent above forecasts.
Source: Australian IT
Wed, 06th Apr 2011
NBN Co, name that vendor: union
The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union has called for the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) to name the construction firm it is in talks with to take over construction of the $37.5 billion project.
Source: ZDNet Australia