Broadband News
Thu, 12th Aug 2010
Coalition calls in Feds on NBN costing leak
The Coalition has written to the Australian Federal Police asking it to investigate the leaking of Treasury department analysis that found an $800 million dollar hole in savings the Opposition claimed could be made from axing the National Broadband Network.
Source: iTWire
Abbott: 1Gb broadband is 'utterly implausible'
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has dismissed claims by the NBN Company that it will deliver broadband speeds of 1Gbps - "ten times faster than the 100Mbps already promised" - as an election ploy conjured by the Gillard government.
Source: iTWire
1Gbps demand years away, says Thodey
Telstra chief executive, David Thodey, has said demand in the average home for the 1Gbps speeds now planned under Labor's National Broadband Network policy was "a good few years away", although he welcomed NBN Co's commitment to providing the upgraded speeds.
Source: ARN
Business chiefs back NBN
Business heavyweights today leant additional support to the National Broadband Network, with Rod McGeoch, a director of Telecom New Zealand attacking the coalition for "settling for 12 Mbps" speeds and its plan to leave Telstra intact if elected.
Source: iTWire
Telstra PSTN continues its slide
In news that will surprise few in the telecommunications sector, Telstra has announced that its PSTN products revenue has continued to decline in the year to 30 June 2010, dropping some $504 million, or 8.0 per cent over 2009 to $5.833 billion.
Source: Computerworld
Telstra warns ISPs to expect "aggressive" competition
Telstra has sounded a warning to ISPs nationally that it will compete with them "fairly but very aggressively" to retain and grow its own retail customer base and arrest declines in sales revenue.
Source: iTnews Australia
'Turbo' NBN to cost taxpayers no more
Labor has told taxpayers they will pay no more for a national broadband network able to provide speeds 10 times faster than originally envisaged.
Source: Australian IT
Conroy promises NBN speeds of up to 1Gbps
Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, claims the National Broadband Network NBN willreach speeds of up 1Gbps, 10 times faster than the originally announced speeds of up to 100Mbps.
Source: ARN
Optus to consider part-financing Coalition backhaul
Optus is willing to consider contributing part of the cost to create a competitive backhaul network under the Coalition's broadband policy announced this week.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN download boost ups ante
The National Broadband Network will today unveil plans to boost download speeds on the nationwide fibre network by a factor of 10.
Source: Australian IT
Wed, 11th Aug 2010
Australia doesn't need the NBN
As someone who is very pro-technology and likes to be on the cutting edge, I find myself staring at many of my colleagues and acquaintances in the industry with disbelief when the topic of the National Broadband Network comes up.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra safe under Abbott's alternative
The Coalition will grant Telstra a stay of execution on structural separation.
Source: Australian IT
NBN, Libs plan both serve telemedicine
Leading surgeon and medical media pioneer, Professor Andrew Renaut, has said that either the National Broadband Network or the $6 billion Coalition alternative would be sufficient to overcome Australia's "bandwidth barrier", which he says is preventing technological advances in fields such as medicine and education.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN and broadband policy: does Joe Public really care?
Coalition leader Tony Abbott has copped a bit of flack recently for being a self-confessed techno-luddite to whom broadband may as well mean a new variety of pasta. The burning question is, however, does this really matter to the largely non-tech man and woman in the street.
Source: iTWire
iiNet to revise plans after Telstra retail price cuts
ISP iiNet has indicated it will launch revised broadband plans in "one-to-two months" to counter aggressive price and quota competition from Telstra.
Source: iTnews Australia
Our broadband is greener: Conroy
Only the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be able to achieve an estimated 320,000-tonne reduction in carbon emissions through increased teleworking, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said at yesterday's National Press Club ICT debate.
Source: ZDNet Australia
How do Internode's mega-allowance plans stack up?
How do Internode's plans compare to Telstra's recent drastic price drops? We crunch the numbers to assess the real value.
Source: PC Authority
Exclusive: Tasmanian NBN dumps all Tasmanian board members
The three local board members of NBN Tasmania, Mark Kelleher, Dr Daniel Norton and Sean Woellner, have not had their 12-month contracts renewed and will be dropped, according to senior sources close to the organisation.
Source: ARN
Coalition to spend $90 million on PC-based content filtering and cyber-safety program
A Coalition Government will spend $90 million on PC-based Internet filtering software and the expansion of Australian Communication and Media Authority's (ACMA) cyber-safety outreach program.
Source: Computerworld
'I'm no Bill Gates': Abbott
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott last night declared he was "no Bill Gates" in a lengthy interview on the ABC's 7:30 Report, as he confessed he didn't have technical expertise around the Coalition's broadband policy.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Industry very worried about Coalition's broadband
Industry bodies are worried about the Coalition's broadband policy, with Australian Computer Society (ACS) CEO, Bruce Lakin, giving it a fail mark.
Source: ARN
Tue, 10th Aug 2010
Coalition broadband safer than NBN: analysts
In wake of the Opposition's broadband policy announcement today, some analysts said that Liberal's plan could potentially be safer, more flexible and "give more bang for your buck" than the National Broadband Network (NBN).
Source: ZDNet Australia
Bad weather delays Darwin fibre rollout
Rain and bad weather has delayed the commencement of fibre installation between Darwin and Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory as part of the Federal Government's Regional Broadband Blackspot Programme (RBBP).
Source: Computerworld
Costings: Only $150m on backhaul in Coalition's first term
The Coalition will spend less on its rollout of an open access backhaul network over the next four years than the Government has committed to spend on its own backhaul blackspots scheme, according to costings released today.
Source: iTnews Australia
Coalition to use analogue TV spectrum for its broadband network
The Coalition has signaled that it will make major use of the analogue television spectrum, due to become fully available once analogue television is switched off in 2014, for the provision of wireless broadband under its newly announced national broadband policy.
Source: Computerworld
Abbott relies on private sector for broadband
The Coalition will rely on the private sector to offer high-speed broadband to 97 per cent of the population by 2016, two years ahead of Labor's plan.
Source: Australian IT
Coalition pushes $6b 'affordable broadband' plan in lieu of NBN
A Coalition government would ditch the national broadband network and seek to offer high-speed internet using a mix of optical fibre, hybrid fibre coaxial, wireless, DSL and satellite technology.
Source: SMH
Conroy to keep pushing mandatory ISP filters
The Government will push ahead with its controversial mandatory ISP filter plan despite appearing to no longer have the Senate numbers to see the bill pass.
Source: iTnews Australia
Coalition broadband plan fails competition test
Tony Abbott's $6.3 billion broadband plan "falls at the first hurdle" because it did not address the structural reform of the industry and would stifle competition in the telecommunications sector, the Competitive Carriers Coalition has warned.
Source: iTWire
Internode takes its turn in price limbo
Internode has raised the stakes in the "how low can you go!" game. Also in the plan update comes the news that Internode is restricting its "Easy Broadband" plan sign-ups to exchanges where an "Intenode/Agile ADSL2+" port is available, in an effort to divert business away from Telstra Wholesale ports until the price squeeze complaint is resolved.
Source: ZDNet Australia