Broadband News

Mon, 04th May 2009

Telstra wants control of 3 joint venture

Telstra's battle against 3 was heard again in the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday, with the bigger telco reportedly attempting to win control of the carriers' two jointly owned mobile network.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Exetel trial records 20,000 hits on filtered URLs

Mandatory ISP filtering would cost internet users about $6 a year to implement, according to the results of a five-day trial of the technology by ISP Exetel.

Source: iTnews Australia

Prepaid wireless mobile broadband: Optus, Telstra, Three and Vodafone compared

Vodafone has joined its rivals in offering 3G wireless broadband to prepaid customers. So which telco offers the best value for your "pay as you go" mobile broadband buck?

Source: APC Magazine

Sat, 02nd May 2009

Telstra misused Optus long-distance traffic stats

The Federal Court has ruled in favour of Optus in a long-running dispute with Telstra, finding the incumbent misused Optus traffic information to set its own marketing, promotion and sales strategies in the 1990s.

Source: iTnews Australia

Vodafone launches prepaid wireless broadband

Vodafone has followed Three and Optus by launching a prepaid 3G wireless broadband service, with pricing almost identical to that charged by Optus, and rather higher than Three's pricing.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 01st May 2009

AAPT to join unlimited ADSL2+ bandwagon

AAPT has confirmed plans to uncap off-peak downloads on its ADSL2+ products as part of an unlimited broadband offering.

Source: iTnews Australia

Queensland, South Australia irate at NBN favouritism

Kevin Rudd faces a revolt among the states and territories over alleged special treatment for Tasmania in the roll-out of the new super-fast broadband network.

Source: The Australian

Thu, 30th Apr 2009

Formal name for NBN company in months

The formal name of the $43 billion National Broadband Network company (NBNCo) could be unveiled in a few months, the federal Government said.

Source: Australian IT

Vodafone 3G hits 80 per cent

Vodafone today said it would hit its deadline of turning on 3G mobile services in regional areas by the first week of May.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Pipe cable hits sea bed

Pipe Networks has started unrolling Australia's first international undersea cable link to be owned wholly independently from large local telcos such as Telstra and Optus.

Source: Australian IT

$700m broadband log-in

Tasmania is expected to take delivery of $700 million today to start the Federal Government's broadband network.

Source: The Mercury

Wed, 29th Apr 2009

ACCC rejects Telstra pricing again

Australia's competition regulator has again issued a final decision to reject what it described as an "unreasonable" Telstra proposal to charge other telcos $30 per month to use its copper loop for certain broadband services in metro areas.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Chris Anderson in running for NBN project chairman

One-time Optus chief executive and Packer family adviser Chris Anderson and former Telstra executive Doug Campbell are being considered by the federal Government to chair its $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) company.

Source: Australian IT

Tue, 28th Apr 2009

Territory blackout 'safeguard'

Telstra is building a third safeguard to protect Territorians from future communications blackouts.

Source: Northern Territory News

Broadband plan more than pipedream

The recession will not stop the Federal Government building the $43 billion national broadband network, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday.

Source: Herald Sun

Exetel trials content filtering technology

Exetel will begin a surprise trial of "whitebox" filtering technology today to prepare for the federal government's proposed internet filtering regime.

Source: Whirlpool

Mon, 27th Apr 2009

Broadband's losers could vote Labor out

The political debate surrounding Kevin Rudd's nationalised broadband plan so far has centred largely on its financial viability in times of stressed budgets and mounting public debt.

Source: The Australian

It's folly to replace one telco behemoth with another

With the Government's game-changing promise to introduce a new gorilla into the marketplace, telecommunications in Australia will never be the same again. And nor should it.

Source: The Australian

Basslink partially operational

After years of delay, Basslink said today that it had made its first connection over the new fibre-optic cable between Tasmania and the mainland a few days ago.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Internode adds 3G wireless data to its broadband menu

The popular ISP's new NodeMobile Data plans repackage Optus 3G from $15 per month for 250MB, with excess usage blocks starting at $10 for 250MB.

Source: APC Magazine

Sat, 25th Apr 2009

Govt details NBN advisor needs

The Federal Government yesterday kicked off its search for a lead adviser to deliver the nine-month implementation study that will map out the future of of its $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) project.

Source: ZDNet Australia

IBM bags $70m NSW wireless deal

IBM has won the contract to build and supply the NSW Department of Education and Training's wireless network for 463 state schools.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Optus unveils single bill broadband data pool

Optus has expanded its total business caps to enable users to pull fixed or mobile broadband from a single data allowance - meaning they are billed only once regardless of how they access the web.

Source: iTnews Australia

Fri, 24th Apr 2009

iPrimus dances with Telstra on ADSL2+

ISP iPrimus has all but given up on building new DSLAMs in the wake of the NBN announcement, opting instead to quadruple its coverage area for ADSL2+ via a resale deal with Telstra.

Source: iTnews Australia

Take a stand on broadband

After years of business commentary and many instances of governments making bad decisions, it would be only natural that you could be worrying about the federal Government playing entrepreneur.

Source: The Australian

Network building to start soon

The first mainland parts of the national broadband network could be in place by September.

Source: The Age

Thu, 23rd Apr 2009

What can we do with 100Mbps?

Australia is hurtling slowly towards one of the fastest broadband networks in the world, but what are we going to do with it?

Source: ZDNet Australia

AAPT left out of NBN discussions

AAPT has not yet had any discussions with the Federal Government about a possible role in the $43 billion National Broadband Network, its CEO Paul Broad said this week.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Rural Australia gets NBN call

The federal Government is calling on broadband-depleted rural communities to nominate themselves for a first slice of the $43 billion national broadband network.

Source: Australian IT

NBN rollout getting started: Conroy

When the going gets politically tough, the NBN gets going, apparently. Senator Conroy says the government is moving quickly to get started on the fibre network in regional areas.

Source: APC Magazine