Broadband News
Fri, 26th Feb 2010
The national broadband network in political mire
The brilliance of Stephen Conroy's national broadband network proposal unveiled in April was its simplicity in being an open-access wholesale network that would structurally separate Telstra and encourage competition.
Source: The Australian
Outlook negative for Telstra in agency recast
Uncertainty about the fate of the government's plans for the broadband network and the split of Telstra has prompted a financial agency to warn that the company's credit rating could be on the slide.
Source: The Age
Thu, 25th Feb 2010
Revealed: Copyright '101' challenge to iiNet victory
The film industry will challenge close to the entirety of Justice Cowdroy's judgement on its case against ISP iiNet, according to appeal documents lodged with the Federal Court.
Source: iTnews Australia
3 mobile does the Telstra-to-Voda switcheroo
Customers of 3 Mobile in metro areas have been asked to reset their handsets today after the telco switched its fallback network from Telstra 2G to Vodafone 2G.
Source: iTnews Australia
Senate rebels on Telstra Bill
What appeared to be an attempt by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to debate the Government's controversial legislation to reform the telecommunications sector was shot down in flames in the Federal Senate today.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Conroy's website removes references to filter
The minister in charge of the Government's web censorship plan has been caught out censoring his own website.
Source: News Limited
Telcos preview ACCC pricing submissions
Submissions close this week on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Review of Access Pricing, where telcos say how they think pricing for Telstra's customer access network should look.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ISPs 'deliver half of quoted download speeds': claim
A broadband comparison site has claimed that ISPs are on average delivering less than half the claimed nominal download speed.
Source: iTWire
Appeal won't stop illegal downloads: iiNet
iiNet this afternoon rejected a renewed legal challenge by a coalition of film and TV studios as "disappointing and frustrating", adding it would not stop piracy.
Source: APC Magazine
NBN Co could retail services
The Federal Government has left the door open for the National Broadband Network Company to supply services directly to users such as government, despite former assurances that the company would only provide wholesale services.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co wants to take over Australian Broadband Guarantee
NBN Co is proposing that, as an interim measure to improve broadband for very remote areas of Australia, it would become the sole provider of wholesale satellite capacity that it would then on-sell to retail service providers.
Source: iTWire
AFACT payment to iiNet up in the air
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has appealed the costs awarded to iiNet in its failed copyright case against the ISP but did not elaborate on the reasons in the Federal Court.
Source: ARN
New piracy trial: AFACT to appeal iiNet verdict
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) today said it would appeal the Federal Court's judgement against the group in its internet piracy case against iiNet.
Source: APC Magazine
Conroy sticks with porn filter plan
Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is set to reject a Labor backbench push to soften the government's internet porn filter plan.
Source: Australian IT
Analysis: Five ways AFACT lost the iiNet case
The film industry has until 4.30pm today to consider whether to appeal Justice Dennis Cowdroy's historic decision in the Federal Court earlier this month to absolve ISP iiNet of the illegal file-sharing occurring among users of its network.
Source: iTnews Australia
Conroy's NBN threat to Telstra
The Rudd government has backflipped on the operation of the NBN to bolster the project and to enforce Telstra's co-operation.
Source: Australian IT
Wed, 24th Feb 2010
Conroy doesn't have NBN study yet
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has not yet received the National Broadband Network implementation study being put together by consulting firms McKinsey and KPMG.
Source: ZDNet Australia
TransACT & Neighbourhood Cable to offer Google Apps
ACT based broadband network operator, TransACT and its Neighbourhood Cable subsidiary have announced plans to offer the Google Apps range of cloud-based communication, collaboration and security products to their customers.
Source: iTWire
AFACT v iiNet: D-day for AFACT appeal against iiNet copyright ruling
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has yet to make an announcement regarding a possible appeal to the Federal Court decision in the landmark copyright case against iiNet. The deadline for the appeal is Thursday 25 February.
Source: Computerworld
Government to keep a leash on NBN Co
NBN Co is to remain Government property until Minister Conroy sees fit, according to an exposure draft of legislation enshrining the National Broadband Network (NBN) introduced to Parliament today.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co draft legislation unveiled
The Federal Government has unveiled draft legislation for the regulatory framework for the operation of NBN Co.
Source: Computerworld
Tasmanian Greens plan $300,000 WiFi enabled buses trial
The Tasmanian Greens party is to fund the installation of WiFi devices on Launceston's Metro bus fleet for an 18 month trial in a bid to drive widespread deployment of the technology on Tasmania's public transport systems.
Source: iTWire
Tue, 23rd Feb 2010
Internode ranked best ISP, again
For the second time in as many days Internode has been ranked top in surveys designed to assess users' perceptions of ISPs.
Source: iTWire
iiNet: AFACT wasted time and money
iiNet has slammed the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) for squandering time and money that could have been spent exploring legitimate online content distribution solutions.
Source: ARN
Dept NBN head retires
Stephen Conroy's Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) is about to lose another one of its most senior staffers, with its long-serving deputy secretary Colin Lyons set to retire from the public sector at the end of the month.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN: Will it turn Tassie criminal?
The NBN in Tasmania will not be used to its full capacity, and those that do will likely end up copyright criminals in their efforts to justify the cost of 100Mbps.
Source: ZDNet Australia
TV and the internet tipped for growth
Seven Network is bullish about growth for its television and internet interests, according to detailed projections contained in documents relating to the proposed merger of Seven and WesTrac.
Source: The Australian
iiNet: Looking to buy east coast ISPs
iiNet has flagged efforts to buy up ISPs on the east coast to expand its business.
Source: ARN
Analysis: ISPs play wait and see game after iiTrial
In the heady days after iiNet won its landmark court battle against a coalition of film and TV studios earlier this month, it would have been easy to assume Australian internet users could say goodbye forever to the creeping paranoia so many have felt after receiving a forwarded copyright infringement notice by email.
Source: iTnews Australia
iiNet on the brink of launching Pay TV over ADSL2+
It's due to launch commercially next month, and a group of home-users are already trialling iiNet's IPTV service.
Source: APC Magazine