Broadband News
Tue, 01st Mar 2011
No investor would touch NBN: Liberals
Debate on legislation surrounding access and ownership in relation to the National Broadband Network heated up in the House of Representatives last night.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Railways under siege for spectrum
Australia's peak rail authority is battling to protect billions of dollars worth of investment in the safety of national rail networks.
Source: Australian IT
Telstra: Re-open digital radio block for microwave links
Telstra has called on Australia's communications regulator to reclaim an allocation of 1.5 GHz spectrum reserved for digital radio, advocating its return for use by point-to-point microwave services.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 28th Feb 2011
Photos: Field trip to NBN site in Willunga, SA
Sydney University's Dr Melissa Gregg travels to Willunga, South Australia to canvas attitudes to technology and the national broadband network as the first fibre gets deployed on Australia's mainland.
Source: iTnews Australia
'Unlimited' war just pedantic semantics?
Just what do telcos mean by 'unlimited'? And why do they insist on using loaded words to sell 'unlimited' and 'infinite' services that are in reality offering something much different? Is it just business as usual in marketing, or is it time to hold them to account for their chronic abuses of the English language?
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN critics misunderstand wireless: NetComm
The chief executive officer of Australia’s oldest modem maker has added his voice to those backing fibre for the National Broadband Network, saying there was room for it and wireless to coexist.
Source: iTnews Australia
AIIA: NBN should be prioritised as part of ICT's Queensland flood response
The scale of flooding in Queensland this year came as a shock to Australia and the world. The loss of life alone makes this year's flooding a terrible tragedy in the history of the state. Add to that a repair bill in excess of $5 billion and a likely impact on National GDP of as much as $9 billion in export revenues alone and clearly this is one of the worst national disasters the country has seen.
Source: ARN
Power cut to NBN data host
The $220 million datacentre that will host data critical to the National Broadband Network lost power on Friday after a suspected switching error cut supply lines.
Source: ZDNet Australia
iiNet unveils another new BoB
National broadband provider iiNet today revealed a new model in its BoB ADSL integrated router range, noting its latest all-in-one internet and fixed-line telephony device would be available by April and have the same name as the original model manufactured by Belkin.
Source: iTWire
NextDC warns global transit could beat NBN prices
NextDC founder Bevan Slattery has warned it might eventually be cheaper to haul internet traffic from Iraq to Sydney than across domestic routes in the same city if NBN Co is handed a legislated monopoly for fibre.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN laws 'create new monopoly'
Telstra says the government's proposed laws for the National Broadband Network threaten to wipe out the public benefits of the $36 billion project.
Source: Australian IT
Sun, 27th Feb 2011
Optus CEO calls for NBN Co ops to be put out to tender
Optus CEO Paul O'Sullivan has called for the operation and management of the NBN to be put out to tender, possibly on a regional basis, and for the creation of an independent oversight board.
Source: iTWire
Optus calls to break NBN Co into baby telcos
The company building the national broadband network should be broken into geographic baby NBN Cos and a "Reserve Bank"-style oversight committee empanelled to counter an emerging anticompetitive monopoly, the chief executive officer of Australia's No.2 telco said today.
Source: iTnews Australia
Steps to stop an NBN monopoly: Optus
Optus CEO Paul O'Sullivan today called for extra measures to make sure that the National Broadband Network doesn't become a monopoly that restricts competition instead of fostering it.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus CEO says conditions should be put on Telstra $11B payment
Optus CEO Paul O'Sullivan has warned that the NBN needs full transparency of any deals done by Government and Telstra because he claims that $11 billion of payments made to Telstra could distort the market in the early years. At a keynote address to most of the Australian technology media in Queensland today, Mr O'Sullivan used the platform to fire some shots at Telstra as the NBN gets commissioned.
Source: iTWire
Optus CEO: Wireless will not kill the NBN
Wireless and fixed-line broadband should not be viewed as enemies of each other, Paul O'Sullivan said.
Source: ARN
Fri, 25th Feb 2011
Pipe Networks seeks exemption from cherry-pick rules
Pipe Networks has sought to exempt itself from planned NBN cherry-picking rules, claiming its business is a "fundamentally different beast from networks such as the NBN."
Source: iTnews Australia
iiNet win puts onus on ISPs: lawyers
Despite the fact that the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) lost the appeal of the landmark iiNet copyright infringement case in the Federal Court yesterday, intellectual property law experts believe it is in a much stronger position to compel internet service providers to act on infringement notices.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra fears vertical integration of NBN Co
Telstra has raised fears that NBN Co could exploit "loopholes" in the NBN Companies Bill currently before parliament in order to become a more vertically-integrated telco.
Source: iTnews Australia
Future Fund sells more Telstra shares
The Future Fund has sold another $350 million worth of Telstra shares, bringing its holding down to 5.6 per cent from 6.8 per cent.
Source: Australian IT
Internode slams NBN cherry-pick rules
ISP Internode has urged the Government to throw out anti cherry-picking measures in NBN legislation currently before parliament, slamming the current wording as "utterly irresponsible".
Source: iTnews Australia
Going for the wrong jugular - what was wrong with the AFACT case
Both iiNet CEO Michael Malone and AFACT Executive Director Neil Gane summed the trial and appeal perfectly in two short quotes. Both demonstrate that AFACT was chasing the wrong target.
Source: iTWire
BSA dismisses AFACT loss, calls for code
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has dismissed the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft's (AFACT) failed Federal Court appeal against internet provider iiNet, saying it will not affect its counter-piracy operations.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Five things you need to know about LTE
Like it or not LTE is not going away - here are five reasons why.
Source: ARN
Vodafone fuels sharp rise in new TIO complaints
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has reported a 96 percent rise in complaints lodged against Vodafone in the second half of last year.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 24th Feb 2011
iiNet fights off AFACT's piracy appeal
The full bench of the Federal Court today dismissed an appeal by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft following its loss against iiNet in a high-profile copyright infringement and internet content piracy case decided early in 2010, handing a second victory to the ISP in its battle against the organisation and its movie studio backers.
Source: iTWire
iiNet v AFACT: Federal Court dismisses appeal
The Federal Court today dismissed an appeal by Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) in its claim that Perth-based internet service provider iiNet had infringed on the copyrights of the film studios the body represents.
Source: Computerworld
Conroy out of step with NBN chief
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy denies the National Broadband Network is overburdened by a dysfunctional level of oversight.
Source: Australian IT
Greens win FOI concession on NBN Co
NBN Co will be subject to freedom of information laws under a deal negotiated by the Greens with the Federal Government.
Source: iTnews Australia
Optus opens up about its own upgrades
SingTel subsidiary Optus has laid out progress on its own network upgrade efforts in a statement this week following announcements from rivals Telstra and Vodafone Hutchison Australia detailing massive network expansion plans.
Source: ZDNet Australia