Broadband News

Tue, 30th Jun 2009

EFTel rights issue to raise $1.6m

Broadband ISP EFTel has launched a rights issued to raise in excess of $1.6m. Existing shareholders will be offered one new share for ever two held, at 1.95 cents per share, a 45 percent discount on their 15 day volume weighted average price to 26 June.

Source: iTWire

NBN bill worries infrastructure players

Representatives of Australian critical infrastructure providers have expressed concern that delivering information to the government under its amended National Broadband Network legislation could be costly and conflict with anti-terrorism rules.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Being throttled at least saves money

Doubleclick got throttled the other day and we didn't like it a bit.

Source: Australian IT

ISPs test Basslink cable

Internode and Exetel will test the Basslink cable in the next week with the first customers to jump on by the middle of July.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 29th Jun 2009

Conroy's busy network diary

This week is shaping up as a big test for the Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy, and his gestating child, the $43 billion national broadband network.

Source: SMH

3 mobile broadband customers get security software

Mobile broadband customers from Hutchison 3 are being offered a free 12 month subscription to the "premium" AVG Internet security software suite.

Source: iTnews Australia

Bringing Telstra into the NBN fold

Optus CEO Paul O'Sullivan had it right when he said that the new National Broadband Network would be a commercial failure unless there was only one network that included Telstra's fixed-line assets.

Source: ZDNet Australia

KPMG, Consultel win more NBN work

Consulting firm KPMG and technology consultancy Consultel have been awarded new contracts to provide the Federal Government investment and technical advice for the Tasmanian National Broadband Network roll-out.

Source: ZDNet Australia

The cost of 'free love' net neutrality

Net neutrality has the superficial attraction of 1960's free love, argues Telstra's Justin Milne, until you realise that one party gets all the gratification while the other bears all the costs.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Sun, 28th Jun 2009

NBN legislation facing months of delays

The Government has tabled its first piece of legislation aimed at expediting the rollout of the National Broadband Network, only to have it referred to a Senate enquiry - a move likely to delay its passage by several months.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 26th Jun 2009

Leak: Vodafone customers protest poor network

In the Voice of Retail newsletter obtained by iTnews, Vodafone tabled the biggest headaches raised by customers and retailers from March to May. Coverage, degradation, dropouts and echo are users' biggest bugbears.

Source: iTnews Australia

Broadband bill introduced

Telcos and utilities would be forced to surrender confidential information about infrastructure assets as part of the NBN project.

Source: Australian IT

Australian businesses reap $81bn on the Internet

Australian companies reaped $81 billion over the Internet in the 2007 to 2008 financial year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) 2007-08 Business Characteristics Survey (BCS).

Source: ARN

Thu, 25th Jun 2009

Legal advisors sought for NBN implementation study

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is looking to appoint a primary legal services advisor to assist with the national broadband network NBN implementation study.

Source: ARN

AAPT shuffles executive ranks

AAPT has lifted its head of international carriers to general manager of its wholesale division.

Source: iTnews Australia

Pipe Networks pushing towards $100m revenues in FY2010

Pipe Networks is forecasting consolidated revenue for FY2010 of $92m-$96m, with EBITDA of approximately $50m-$51m and NPAT of approximately $20.5m-$21.5m from a combination of its existing business and its submarine cable arm, expected to start generating revenues later this year.

Source: iTWire

Conroy lands first NBN legislation

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy this afternoon introduced one of the first pieces of legislation into parliament to deal with the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Source: ZDNet Australia

Wed, 24th Jun 2009

Conroy lays out civil engineering interests

Senator Conroy has used an address at the National General Assembly of Local Government to invite more inputs on how the NBN might "interact" with local planning laws.

Source: iTnews Australia

Joyce flags NZ fibre delays

The New Zealand Government's $1.5 billion investment in its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network faces lengthy delays as the government untangles 104 submissions on its broadband plan.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Telstra welcomes one small reduction in its regulatory burden

Wishful thinking or Telstra trying to be conciliatory to the Federal Government? Whatever, Telstra's over-enthusiastic welcome to a minor piece of legislation was in stark contrast to the song and dance the Trujillo-Burgess double act used to kick up.

Source: iTWire

Conroy: NBN won't be an eyesore

Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy today assured local council representatives that the National Broadband Network (NBN) fibre infrastructure would not be an eye-sore on their landscapes.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Bill shock: BigPond users charged thousands for 'data they didn't use'

A Telstra BigPond customer has been slugged thousands of dollars for excess data usage and others have been hit with unexpected bills for downloads they claim they didn't use.

Source: The Age

Tue, 23rd Jun 2009

States battle on broadband centre

The NSW government is poised to lodge its official bid to host the headquarters for Australia's national broadband network with the federal government.

Source: Australian IT

The NBN is not about fast Internet

The Federal Government's $43 billion national broadband network (NBN) is not just about super-fast Internet access for consumers and decision makers must get out of this mindset, a leading contender to provide access technologies has claimed.

Source: ARN

Telecoms services users satisfied, but complaining a lot more

The ACMA has released results of its survey of consumers' and SMEs' satisfaction with fixed, mobile and broadband services reporting high satisfaction levels with most services, but noting also a very large increase in the level of complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

Source: iTWire

Minchin claims there is no need for NBN

Shadow Communications Minister Nick Minchin has seized on an ACMA report showing most Australians are satisfied with their ISP to claim the country does not need a National Broadband Network (NBN).

Source: iTnews Australia

Telstra bumps Next G uplink to 5.8 Mbps

Telstra has increased peak network uplink speeds on its Next G network to 5.8 Mbps, meaning customers will achieve at least 300 kbps up to 3 Mbps in real-use terms.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 22nd Jun 2009

Blog: 100Gbps Ethernet shows NBN's promise

The coming glut of 100Gbps Ethernet shows that the potential growth of the National Broadband Network is limited only by the laws of physics - and the laws of Parliament.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Sat, 20th Jun 2009

Some of the best posts on the content filter trial

Whatever your point of view on the Federal Government's contentious Internet content filtering trial there is no denying it has ruffled feathers and roused opinions from far and wide.

Source: ARN

Fri, 19th Jun 2009

Australia beats US for broadband access

Australia, where 72 per cent of homes have broadband, has come in at 11th in a world survey on access to the high-speed internet.

Source: Australian IT