Broadband News

Tue, 27th Jul 2010

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

No Minister: 90% of web snoop document censored to stop 'premature unnecessary debate'

The federal government has censored approximately 90 per cent of a secret document outlining its controversial plans to snoop on Australians' web surfing, obtained under freedom of information (FoI) laws, out of fear it could cause "premature unnecessary debate".

Source: SMH

NBN coverage increased to 93pc

The federal government will extend the fibre footprint of the NBN to an additional 1.6 million premises should it regain power at this year's election.

Source: Australian IT

Thu, 22nd Jul 2010

Contractors big winners at NBN Co

NBN Co staff pocketed an average of $14,300 each in January as the national broadband builder continues to grow at breakneck speed.

Source: Australian IT

iiNet eyes long-term Basslink transit deal

ISP iiNet is pursuing a long-term capacity contract with Basslink Telecoms to satisfy its National Broadband Network interests in Tasmania.

Source: iTnews Australia

Anti-NBN policy proves Abbott's Luddism

Howard-era comms minister Richard Alston was famously labelled as an ICT Luddite - but Tony Abbott's anti-NBN campaigning suggests Alston wasn't alone. Yet as details of Abbott's alternative policy become clear and pushes many voters towards Labor, it appears Abbott may want to reconsider his position if he actually wants to win the election.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN key to Greens' Labor support

The Australian Greens have rehashed hopes of a publicly owned National Broadband Network (NBN) in a statement of support for the incumbent Labor Party (ALP).

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN to get green light with Senate support

The Liberal Party's move to crush the National Broadband Network (NBN) has suffered a blow with the Greens pledging to support the legislation in the Senate and block a private sell-off.

Source: Computerworld

Pirate Party to launch ISP

Predicting more pressure will be applied on small ISPs in Sweden to block peer to peer sharing site The Pirate Bay, the Pirate Party has revealed that it is well on its way to launching its own ISP, using two open access networks in the city of Lund in southern Sweden.

Source: iTnews Australia

Abbott's cuts are reckless, says Conroy

Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has described Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, as "reckless" and election promises to save millions by dropping a training fund for Telstra employees and other sections of NBN Co's deal with Telstra as "senseless cuts".

Source: ARN

Wed, 21st Jul 2010

Don't ditch NBN: minister

The national broadband network is the single most important infrastructure development in regional NSW for a generation, a state minister said.

Source: Australian IT