Broadband News
Wed, 28th Jul 2010
Lundy vs. Ludlam, Fletcher: election debate
At the launch of Google's Election 2010 portal at the internet giant's Sydney headquarters this morning, three of the country's most IT-savvy politicians went head-to-head on the National Broadband Network and the government's planned mandatory internet filter.
Source: ZDNet Australia
The Coalition defends its lack of NBN alternative, claims policy delay is standard
The Coalition has defended its delay in releasing an alternative to the Government's National Broadband Network and claimed it's entirely normal for an election campaign.
Source: ARN
Telstra fined $19m
Telstra has been slapped with an $18.5 million fine for blocking its rivals from installing broadband equipment at its telephone exchanges.
Source: Australian IT
Ditching NBN like axing railroads: Gillard
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today that opposing Labor's $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) is like opposing the building of the railroad years ago.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Conroy on the run instead of the hustings
Senator Stephen Conroy has failed to answer the tough questions at a Melbourne event yesterday. In an election month, voters could be forgiven for thinking that the Broadband Minister was not up to another tough session about his filtering and NBN policies.
Source: iTWire
Australia scores a C on Akamai broadband report card
Akamai's latest State of the Internet was a shot in the arm for supporters of the National Broadband Network, reporting that Australia was in the bottom half of nations in the Asia-Pacific for broadband speeds and slower than neighbour New Zealand.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra's rivals fuming
Telstra's rivals are furious about drastic price cuts to its consumer broadband plans, saying it erodes competition in the telecoms sector.
Source: Australian IT
Tue, 27th Jul 2010
ABC: The NBN will degrade commercial media around Australia
The ABC's managing director, Mark Scott, has told a Sydney event the rise of the National Broadband Network will accelerate the decline in commercial media.
Source: ARN
NBN ramp up generating severe IT skill shortages, slashes labour pool
A hiring ramp up by NBN Co has already put the Australian skilled labour market under strain, with ICT personnel being snapped up like hotcakes, according to a new survey. In the past three months, the available skilled ICT labour pool has shrunk by a massive 80%.
Source: iTWire
ISPs rally against Telstra ADSL price cuts
ISP TPG has shrugged off an aggressive price revamp of Telstra's ADSL plans as Internode rallied users to stand by the ISP and not move their services to Telstra.
Source: iTnews Australia
Primus connects first 100Mbps business client on NBN
The National Broadband Network rollout garnered further brownie points for the Government with an announcement that Primus Telecom has connected its first business client in a remote Tasmanian town. The remoteness of the 100Mbps connection lends support to the Government's vision of the NBN providing ubiquitous cheap fast broadband to consumers and small businesses throughout Australia.
Source: iTWire
Internode brings broadband to more housing estates
ISP Internode has struck a deal with greenfields fibre network operator OPENetworks to offer retail internet services into at least one new housing estate.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra: damned if it drops prices, damned if it doesn't!
The Competitive Carriers' Coalition has damned Telstra for dropping its retail prices, saying that it hasn't also dropped its wholesale pricing, a complaint some CCC members have had before the ACCC for the last month. Can Telstra really drop retail prices without the same on the wholesale front, or is Telstra having a wholesale rip of its competition?
Source: iTWire
Mon, 26th Jul 2010
Telstra's Internet usage research uncovers the obvious
Obvious, or rather, "obviously", is a favourite word of our PM whenever she seems to speak about anything, and also obvious is the findings from Telstra's research that many homes now have several "Internet enabled devices" at their disposal, all wanting to connect to the Internet.
Source: iTWire
ISPs take note: if you filter you lose customers!
Internet service providers who implement the Federal Government's voluntary filter stand to lose Australian broadband customers in droves according to a new survey. In fact, according to the newly released figures, signing up to the filter could be a business shattering choice.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co reaches out to first-release residents
Residents in two of the first five mainland test sites for the national broadband network will this week receive letters from NBN Co offering free connections from their homes to the network.
Source: iTnews Australia
Coalition faces massive voter backlash over NBN scrap plan
It is one thing to say that climate change is crap but quite another to threaten to scrap a popular $43 billion nation building project. That appears to be the corner that the leader of the opposition Tony Abbott has painted himself into with his announced intention for the National Broadband Network.
Source: iTWire
iiNet, Internode bemoan Telstra cuts
National broadband providers Internode and iiNet have cried foul after Telstra's BigPond unveiled massive price cuts for its broadband plans.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Coalition can't rely on Telstra shareholders: Ludlam
Though plans to scrap the National Broadband Network (NBN) under a Coalition Government are thought to appease Telstra's 1.6 million shareholders, Australian Greens Senator, Scott Ludlam, said it was chasing after the wrong constituency.
Source: Computerworld
iiNet disgruntled over BigPond price cuts
Perth-based ISP, iiNet, has filed a formal complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumers Commission (ACCC) after Telstra's drastic price cuts on its BigPond ADSL2+ services.
Source: ARN
Union intervenes in iiNet case
Australia's entertainment industry union has applied to intervene in a landmark online copyright trial against Perth internet firm iiNet.
Source: Australian IT
Telstra launches 200GB ADSL assault
Telstra has again put the squeeze on its competitors by undercutting resellers of its wholesale ADSL ports by up to $100 a month on high-quota plans.
Source: iTnews Australia
Hanging up on broadband not way to go
A coalition policy to cancel the national broadband network would "take Australia back to 2004" and prolong Telstra's monopoly, according to Telstra's competitors.
Source: The Age
Google fibre method "could save NBN $10 billion"
A fibre-laying technique being used by Google in an experimental US fibre network project could reduce the cost of the NBN by up to $10 billion, according to a local company that has licensed the technology.
Source: iTnews Australia
Sun, 25th Jul 2010
IPv4 addresses to run out in 12 months or less
According to the chief executive of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) the remaining IPv4 addresses available to the industry will run out in less than a year..
Source: PC Authority
BigPond massively cuts broadband plan costs
Telstra's BigPond internet service provider arm has dramatically cut prices on a range of its broadband plans, including a massive chop on its 200GB Elite plan which will see monthly prices drop from $179.95 to $89.95.
Source: ARN
Fri, 23rd Jul 2010
Election 2010: what ISPs want
The election date is set. It's pistols at dawn on August 21 as voters decide on who they want in the next Federal Government. The spotlight will inevitably be on the new Labor Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and her arch nemesis, Liberal Party leader, Tony Abbott.
Source: ARN
Greens slam govt data retention secrecy
Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam described the decision by the Federal Attorney-General's Department to black out the majority of its response to a freedom of information request as "extraordinary".
Source: ZDNet Australia
AFACT touts BitTorrent study ahead of iiNet appeal
A regional university lab has produced a study on copyright infringing uses of BitTorrent that was partly financed by one of the film studios set to appeal a Federal Court judgement on the subject in just over a week.
Source: iTnews Australia
Internode: Voluntary filter an empty promise
SA-based ISP, Internode, claims the Federal Government's voluntary filter will not happen any time soon.
Source: ARN