Broadband News
Mon, 20th Jul 2009
Conroy eyes Telstra copper assets for NBN
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has been forced to dodge suggestions the Government may have to contribute cash as well as equity in the NBN company to attract Telstra's network assets.
Source: iTnews Australia
High-speed broadband 'not necessary for most homes'
A Senate committee has heard that most Australian households will not want broadband speeds as fast as the Government wants to deliver.
Source: ABC News
Sat, 18th Jul 2009
Telstra slapped down on pricing
Telstra's latest attempt to inflate the price of wholesale access to its copper network has backfired, with the Federal Court yesterday dismissing 14 legal claims launched by the telco.
Source: The Australian
Telstra faces massive legal payout
Telstra could be forced to pay millions of dollars in legal costs after losing a long-running battle with the competition watchdog over prices it wants to charge rivals to access its copper network.
Source: Herald Sun
Fri, 17th Jul 2009
Huawei unveils next-generation LTE base station
Telecoms giant Huawei has launched the first large-scale commercial Long Term Evolution (LTE) eNodeB base station aimed at helping to spur the deployment of LTE networks.
Source: iTnews Australia
Blog: Conroy creates super-villain envy
Senator Conroy was recently named Internet Villain of the Year at the British annual Internet Industry Awards. But were the other villains jealous?
Source: ZDNet Australia
Queensland Police plans wardriving mission
The Queensland Police plans to conduct a 'wardriving' mission around select Queensland towns in an effort to educate its citizens to secure their wireless networks.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 16th Jul 2009
Internode enters fixed voice business
Internode hopes to recoup the money it will lose on monthly access line charges on its newly-launched analogue telephone service via voice call costs.
Source: iTnews Australia
Former Ninemsn boss on NBN board
The former boss of Ninemsn has been appointed as an interim director to the board of the federal government's NBN company.
Source: Australian IT
Ziggy remains in NBN race as Anderson ruled out
Former Optus boss Chris Anderson is out of the running for the chairmanship of the national broadband network company.
Source: Australian IT
Tasmania planning April 2010 NBN roll-out?
The telecommunications industry is abuzz with speculation that the Tasmanian Government is planning to commence building its part of the National Broadband Network in April 2010 to coincide with the state election, with supplier tender documents to be issued this week.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Nextep builds unlimited Optus 3G data service
Nextep has extended its transparent LAN private network product with unlimited 3G access from Optus at a price it claims will be "not too dissimilar" from buying business-grade ADSL services.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBNco gets a little brother, TNBNco, in Tasmania
A new entity called the Tasmanian National Broadband Network Company (TNBNco) will be formed to oversee the first stage of the Federal Government's NBN rollout in Tasmania.
Source: ARN
Tassie NBN to be delivered on power poles
Tender documents released today by Aurora Energy appear to confirm that the Tasmanian FttP (fibre to the premises) portion of the National Broadband Network will be delivered via overhead cabling.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra slugs new landline customers with $100 penalty for moving to naked DSL
A new $100 'temporary connection charge' for disconnecting a landline after three months is claimed to dissuade customers from joining competing ISPs on a naked DSL plan.
Source: APC Magazine
Wed, 15th Jul 2009
Laptop Connect offers short-term mobile broadband hookup
Innovative 'short term hire' program offers a Next G modem from $5 to $14 per day, including around 140MB of daily data.
Source: APC Magazine
WiMax - dead in the water?
Technology delays, adoption of HDSPA technology and a weak economy continue to hurt WiMax's chances in the mainstream, a new report claims.
Source: ARN
NBN won't cost more than $43bn: Conroy
Stephen Conroy has dismissed talk that the government's planned national broadband network will cost more than its $43 billion budget.
Source: Australian IT
Conroy vows to tackle illegal file sharing
Federal communications minister Stephen Conroy has vowed to fight illegal file sharing head on in a report on the Digital Economy.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN CEO, board, advisor, by end of July
The CEO, board and lead adviser of the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be announced at the end of the month, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said last night.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Comms Alliance sets out NBN definition plans - but will the Government listen?
Communications Alliance has formally kicked off its work programme to define in detail how the National Broadband Network might operate, but it has no guarantee how much of its output the Government will take on board as it progresses with its own NBN implementation plans.
Source: iTWire
Victoria submits NBN bid
Victoria has fired the latest shot in the bidding war for the headquarters of the $43 billion federal broadband network.
Source: Australian IT
Telstra nabs Conroy's $4.7bn NBN man
Telstra has hired Tim Watts, a former senior policy advisor to Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy, who was a key player behind Labor's initial $4.7 billion National Broadband Network proposal.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Aussies download 81m gigabytes in a month
Businesses downloaded more than twice as much data over their broadband connections in December 2008 than for the same month in the previous year, according to analyst Paul Budde.
Source: iTnews Australia
Tue, 14th Jul 2009
Telstra's sea cable lifeline
Telstra and its fellow shareholders in Australia Japan Cable (AJC) have rescued the international internet submarine cable operator from a tricky financial situation.
Source: Australian IT
Telstra to upgrade inter-city links
Telstra plans to upgrade the capacity of its Sydney to Melbourne inter-city link to deal with growing internet traffic.
Source: iTnews Australia
Conroy to unveil digital economy plans
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is releasing his vaunted Future Directions for the Digital Economy paper tonight at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Qantas censors anti-censorship ad
Qantas has put the kybosh on online activist group GetUp's latest anti-censorship campaign, refusing to run the "Censordyne" ad on its flights.
Source: SMH
What direction for Australia's digital economy?
Communications minister Stephen Conroy has released a report on the Future Directions of Australia's Digital Economy, following a consultation paper issued in December. While it is full of good information, it is far from clear exactly what it is meant to achieve.
Source: iTWire
Blog: The Tasmanian devil's in the detail
This week, Stephen Conroy showed with great certainty that the NBN remains a touch-and-go affair with no clear timeline, a relatively questionable lack of governance, and lots of unresolved mysteries.
Source: ZDNet Australia