Broadband News

Wed, 07th Oct 2009

Day Two: iiNet pursued prosecution of film industry investigator

In the Federal Court in Sydney today, an iiNet employee was alleged to have asked a computer crime officer from the WA Police to prosecute the investigator employed by the film industry to collect evidence of copyright infringement on the ISP's network.

Source: iTnews Australia

It's official: 'NBN Co. Ltd' is the name

The company being put together to construct and operate the National Broadband Network will be formally named "NBN Co. Limited".

Source: ZDNet Australia

Day Two: iiNet, Westnet email trails revealed

The film industry has attempted to use a trail of internal training documents and emails to prove ISP iiNet turned a blind eye to copyright infringement on its network.

Source: iTnews Australia

First LTE networks will deliver 20 Mbps of download speed

When the first LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks and devices are launched next year, users can expect to see a download speed of about 20Mbps, according to Motorola and ZTE.

Source: ARN

WiMAX v LTE-A: battle for the 4G wireless standard ramps up

The battle between the cellular and WIMAX camps for future 4G wireless networking standards ramped up this week with the IEEE formally submitting its 802.16m standard (the next iteration of today's 802.16e mobile WiMAX standard) to the ITU as a candidate radio interface technology for IMT-Advanced standardisation.

Source: iTWire

The spleen files: The rage of Telstra shareholders

Senator Stephen Conroy is a "Communist" hellbent on destroying Telstra out of "ego" and "spite", according to submissions from Telstra shareholders to a Senate Standing Committee inquiry into the Communications Ministers' plan to split Telstra.

Source: iTnews Australia

iiNet case to determine future of downloads

The Federal Court yesterday became the theatre for a fiercely contested legal battle that could mark the end of the illegal movie and music download free-for-all for hundreds of thousands of internet users, and leave Australia's third-largest internet company facing millions of dollars worth of damages claims.

Source: Australian IT

Telstra to lodge split-up response

Telstra will today lay bare its response to the government's threats to dismember the company, in its submission to a Senate inquiry into the biggest shake-up of the communications sector in a generation.

Source: Australian IT

Tue, 06th Oct 2009

Telstra expands Next G coverage

Telstra claims that more than 100 locations around Australia now have mobile coverage for the first time as a result of the continuing expansion of the carrier's Next G 3G network.

Source: iTWire

Undersea cable ushers in hope for new era of bigger data allowances for Internet users

After years of waiting, the PIPE PPC-1 fibre-optic link stretching from Sydney via Guam, is going live. In a big win for consumers of some ISPs, a new era of cheaper plans and bigger data allowances may await.

Source: PC Authority

Timeline: iiNet and AFACT suit up for Court

The Australian ISP community is holding its breath as the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) and iiNet enter the Federal Court over a landmark copyright case that has transpired over the past year.

Source: ARN

Vodafone cuts prepaid mobile broadband to $99, doubles data to 1GB

Vodafone's Prepaid Mobile Broadband Starter Pack now sells at $99 and throws in 1GB of data for the bundled dual-band USB modem.

Source: APC Magazine

Sanctuary Cove won't wait for NBN fibre

Queensland resort and gated community Sanctuary Cove isn’t waiting for the National Broadband Network to roll past its upmarket residences, and will instead roll-out its own fibre to the home infrastructure in preparation for higher bandwidth services.

Source: iTWire

Judge wants to see live BitTorrent demo

Justice Cowdroy, presiding over the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) versus iiNet copyright infringement hearing, today said he wanted to see a live demonstration of how BitTorrent is used to download movies.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Internode drops Optus ADSL2+ offering

ISP Internode today dropped its Optus ADSL2+ offering to avoid confusion when it came to choosing from its ADSL plans.

Source: iTnews Australia

AFACT claims 100K copyright breaches on iiNet

Investigators claim to have recorded almost 100,000 instances of iiNet users making available online unauthorised copies of films and TV programs from the film studio's catalogues, lawyers for the film industry said in court today.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN to drive jobs for remote Aussies: Conroy

The National Broadband Network would drive job opportunities in regional Australia and help remote indigenous communities participate in the mainstream economy, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has told a conference in Geneva.

Source: iTWire

Telstra investors launch anti-separation campaign

The second largest shareholder in Telstra has kicked off a campaign to try and persuade the Federal Government to change its mind about forcing the telco to structurally separate.

Source: iTnews Australia

Internode says new cable link allows data boost, lowers costs

Internode says it's taking advantage of a reduction in data transfer costs afforded by the new fibre-optic link between Australia and the Pacific Island of Guam to boost data quotas and lower plan costs to its customers.

Source: iTWire

NBN Co gets CTO, network ops chief

The National Broadband Network Company has two further appointments to its senior executive team, a chief technology officer and a head of network operations.

Source: ZDNet Australia

New consortium helps Sanctuary Cove get NBN-ready

A new industry consortium will overlay a FTTH (Fibre-to-the-Home) network solution in Queensland’s Sanctuary Cove in preparation for the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Source: ARN

AFACT v iiNet - The bell sounds for round one

10.15 am. Court Room 18C. Federal Court of Australia, New South Wales Registry. October 6, 2009. Mark it down. It may just be one of the most important dates in Australian ICT and copyright history.

Source: Computerworld

Aussie home broadband connections tip past the 50% mark

Despite one in every two Australian homes having a fixed broadband connection, we barely make it into the Top 20 list of countries with the highest penetration of home broadband.

Source: APC Magazine

Mon, 05th Oct 2009

Cable unlikely to cut net price

Experts are sharply divided as to whether consumers can expect cheaper broadband when Pipe Networks lights up its newly built Sydney-Guam cable later this week.

Source: Australian IT

Ban geostationary satellites from the NBN, says O3b

Greg Wyler, founder and CEO of future low earth orbit satellite operator, O3b Networks, will address the Senate Enquiry into the NBN to push his company's claims that the round trip delay inherent in geostationary satellite systems makes then unsuitable for providing broadband services to those Australians beyond the reach of the National Broadband Network's fibre.

Source: iTWire

Telstra payphones on hit list

Telstra has drawn up a hit list of payphones in Victoria it plans to scrap, breaking a vital link during emergencies in the bush.

Source: Australian IT

Bush ISPs face uncertain NBN future

Tiny wireless internet providers servicing the bush face an uncertain future as regional subsidy programs are cut and the NBN Company considers satellite options, the founder of pioneering rural outfit Yless4U Anthony Goonan says.

Source: iTWire

Australia-Japan Cable completes refinancing

Australia Japan Cable (AJC) - the 12,700km submarine link between Australia and Japan, says it has successfully completed its refinancing, assuring its viability into the future.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 02nd Oct 2009

Revealed: iiNet's film copyright defence

Next Tuesday, Perth ISP iiNet will throw the spotlight on the film industry, accusing it of being the primary copyright infringer in a Federal Court case to be heard in Sydney.

Source: iTnews Australia

The NBN - Flying blind?

The Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia, Scott Ludlam has questioned whether the Federal Government's $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) plan is "flying blind".

Source: Computerworld