Broadband News
Wed, 11th Aug 2010
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
Telstra, Optus to start 'clean feed'
About 5 million internet users in Australia will start receiving a "clean feed" mid next year that will automatically block some web pages.
Source: Australian IT
Coalition: Australians will get 12Mbps or more if they win
The Coalition reveals $6 billion rival broadband policy to Labor's National Broadband Network project. The central planks are a competitive backhaul network, regional and metropolitan wireless networks and an ADSL enrichment program that will target telephone exchanges without ADSL2+ broadband.
Source: ARN
Mon, 09th Aug 2010
Business' access to capital, not the NBN, key to future productivity: Hockey
Federal Opposition Treasurer, Joe Hockey, has delivered a half hour sermon on Australia's dire need to boost productivity, arguing that the freeing up of capital for business investment, rather than the Government's investment in its National Broadband Network (NBN), would be more beneficial to the country.
Source: Computerworld
Why the NBN is better than sex
We're spending over $1 billion per year just to convince hundreds of thousands of Australians to have unprotected sex - then spending several times as much to deal with the consequences. Tony Abbott considers this perfectly acceptable but won't allocate enough to give Australia a proper NBN. As they say in the classics, perhaps someone should ask him to Please Explain.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Opinion: Mr Turnbull, you need to do the numbers
Malcolm Turnbull's recent claim that Australians will not want a 100Mbps connection, as offered under Labor's National Broadband Network, ignores the entire history of our access to the Internet and is recklessly misleading.
Source: Computerworld
VHA hits $49 in wireless broadband price war
Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has cut the price of its prepaid mobile broadband start kit to under $50 as it faces stiff price competition from rivals Telstra and Optus.
Source: iTnews Australia
Want mobile broadband? Try Vodafone's $49 for modem and 1GB
The 3G mobile broadband war is hotting up again. Following on from Optus' Peak/Offpeak offerings, Vodafone brings out a new Starter Pack at a very tasty $49.
Source: PC Authority
Filter will be "exorcised" if it returns, says Turnbull
Liberal MPs Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Fletcher flayed Labor's mandatory internet filter project at an anti-filter forum held by the former Opposition Leader on August 7 in Sydney, where not a single voice was raised in praise of the controversial policy and Turnbull claimed the idea was now in the past
Source: ARN
Sun, 08th Aug 2010
Opposition pledges to offload NBN
The opposition will carve up the government's $43 billion National Broadband Network should it win the election on August 21.
Source: Australian IT
Sat, 07th Aug 2010
Australia doesn't want 100Mbps Internet, says Turnbull
High-profile Liberal MP, Malcolm Turnbull, has slammed Labor's National Broadband Network Policy in impassioned comments to a Sydney audience, describing it as "a gigantic torching of taxpayers' money" and claiming most of Australia doesn't want 100Mbps fibre internet.
Source: ARN
Fri, 06th Aug 2010
AFACT v iiNet: Copyright holders continue to push industry code
The appeal case between Internet service provider, iiNet and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has come to a close after four days, with the panel of judges expected to reveal its decision sometime after 20 August, pending further documents from legal counsel.
Source: Computerworld
Exetel close to Telstra ADSL2 deal
ISP Exetel was expected to reveal new plans for ADSL2 broadband services on Telstra infrastructure over the weekend as it moved to finalise contract negotiations with the incumbent.
Source: iTnews Australia
TPG error leaks customer emails
Internet service provider TPG has accidentally revealed the email addresses of hundreds of its business customers in a billing email sent out today.
Source: ZDNet Australia
iiTrial: Judges call for "decision tree" in iiNet-AFACT case
The full bench of the Federal Court has requested iiNet and the film studios put together a detailed "decision tree" to help it work through a mountain of evidence and legal arguments delivered in Court this week.
Source: iTnews Australia