Broadband News
Mon, 18th Apr 2011
NBN fibre reach 'disappointing': committee
The government's own Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee has expressed disappointment with the government's decision not to extend the National Broadband Network (NBN) fibre to 100 per cent of Australian premises, warning the decision will continue inequity of services.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Banks, NBN drain IT skills pool
The latest Clarius Skills Index, released today, shows a shortfall of 2200 computing professionals to service industry and government needs.
Source: Australian IT
Business chief slams NBN rollout
The first rollout of the National Broadband Network in Tasmania is a squandered opportunity, says the state's senior business leader.
Source: Australian IT
Fri, 15th Apr 2011
NBN Co defends its pricing model
The National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co)has published an extensive statement explaining its pricing rationale on broadband forum Whirlpool in an apparent attempt to comprehensively respond to continued strident criticism from industry luminaries Simon Hackett and Bevan Slattery about its model.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Fast broadband arrives in two South Australian communities
Just because you haven't been able to get fast broadband in your area, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be waiting until the NBN arrive. Telstra has announced fixed broadband upgrades in two additional locations in South Australia.
Source: iTWire
Pricing stoush: NBN Co Whirlpools its rationale
The National Broadband Network Company has published an extensive statement explaining its pricing rationale on broadband forum Whirlpool in an apparent attempt to comprehensively respond to continued strident criticism from industry luminaries Simon Hackett and Bevan Slattery about its model.
Source: Delimiter
New Aussie ISPs only get 1024 IPv4 addresses
The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre has just released its last block of IPv4 addresses. This means that any new ISP that wants to start up in Australia will only be issued with 1024 IPv4 addresses. I'd hope that any new players entering the market will have the foresight to start in IPv6. It just makes sense.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co would not pass muster in the markets
NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley recently gave a speech complaining about the degree of scrutiny to which his company is subject.
Source: Australian IT
Asia out of IPv4 addresses
The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) has run out of all but a handful of IPv4 addresses that it is holding in reserve for start-up network operators.
Source: ARN
Thu, 14th Apr 2011
EFTel chief John Lane exits ISP
ClubTelco's reverse takeover of ISP EFTel has claimed long-time chief John Lane, who has been replaced by an ex-Dodo executive.
Source: iTnews Australia
Do the OECD stats support the NBN?
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has seized on figures released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that benchmark global broadband pricing, stating that they show broadband prices are still too high in Australia.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus still evaluating LTE
Optus has said that it will conduct more trials of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology before committing to offering the services to customers, despite competitors Vodafone and Telstra announcing plans to bring in 4G services in by year's end.
Source: ZDNet Australia
New Zealand passes 'three-strikes' law
The New Zealand Parliament has passed a Copyright and Infringing File Sharing Bill that could see persistent copyright infringers disconnected from the internet for up to six months.
Source: iTnews Australia
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