Broadband News Page 70 - Oz Broadband Speed Test

Aussie Broadband tops customer satisfaction ratings

Aussie Broadband has topped a Roy Morgan survey of over 1000 Australians to retain the top spot in customer satisfaction for the third month in a row. Aussie Broadband had a customer satisfaction score of 92% for November 2019, well ahead of Internode (79%), TPG (79%) and iPrimus (78%).

Source: Oz Broadband Speed Test

TPG suffers Australia-wide internet problems

Customers of TPG and its subsidiary brands suffered a two-hour outage of internet and voice services nationwide.

Source: iTnews Australia

TPG and iiNet customers need to change DNS to skirt outage

Users of TPG and its other brands such as iiNet were impacted by an outage that began at around 1:00 pm AEDT on Wednesday.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN to possibly purchase existing dark fibre for enterprise connections

In the face of mounting criticism towards the National Broadband Network (NBN) for overbuilding existing enterprise networks, the government-owned broadband wholesaler has released a consultation paper to discuss how it could procure dark fibre for customers served by existing networks.

Source: ZDNet Australia

NBN Co to stop overbuilding existing business fibre networks

NBN Co is set to stop overbuilding existing fibre connections to commercial buildings and instead use existing fibre - where possible - to serve enterprise and government customers.

Source: iTnews Australia

Vocus wants govt to open up mobile blackspots scheme

Vocus wants the government to open its mobile blackspots scheme ahead of an $80 million sixth round in a way that encourages competition on federally co-funded mobile towers.

Source: iTnews Australia

Vocus wants NBN structurally separated if direct sales team not binned

Vocus has continued its fight to get the National Broadband Network (NBN) to stick to what it was created for: Being a broadband wholesaler, and avoid entering into contracts with end-users.

Source: ZDNet Australia

ACMA launches consultation on telecoms emergency call services amendments

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is undertaking public consultation on proposed amendments to the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2019.

Source: iTWire

Telstra asks govt to delay broadband tax until mid-2021

Telstra has asked the government to delay the planned implementation of the broadband tax until mid-2021 to fix what it sees as a glaring problem in the scheme’s construct.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus breaks silence on NBN Co's enterprise behaviour

Optus has broken its silence on NBN Co’s behaviour in the enterprise market, asking the government to stop NBN Co from “overbuilding competitive infrastructure” and to refocus efforts and investment on underserved areas.

Source: iTnews Australia

Aussie Broadband opens new call centre, partners with Learn Local

Internet service provider Aussie Broadband has expanded its network, establishing a new call centre in the outer Melbourne suburb of Lynbrook, and partnering with Learn Local to help meet its staffing requirement for the centre.

Source: iTWire

ACMA to review bushfire impact on Australian telco networks

Proposal floated to provide telcos access to emergency fuel stores for the purpose of providing generators with backup power during emergencies.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Vodafone tries, again, to force access to Telstra's regional mobile network

Vodafone is hoping to challenge one of the key grounds used by the ACCC to kill off a contentious bid two years ago to force Telstra's regional mobile network to be opened to rivals.

Source: iTnews Australia

Telsoc calls for Govt, political stakeholders to come together on bipartisan NBN strategy in ‘national interest’

Australia’s Telecommunications Association (Telsoc) has called for the Federal Government and all political stakeholders including the Opposition to come together to agree on a bipartisan strategy - in the national interest - to ensure that the National Broadband Network is technologically relevant and capable of delivering the services required by all Australians.

Source: iTWire

Telstra reveals 4x cost gap on 5G site builds

Telstra is expecting wide variation in the cost of deploying its 5G network, with some “macro” 5G sites four or more times more expensive to build than others.

Source: iTnews Australia

Telstra may lose ground in regional Australia

Telstra may lose some of its traditional dominance in regional Australia as the NBN is completed, with the ACCC estimating up to 15 percent of the market could move to alternative providers.

Source: iTnews Australia

Telco Circles.life donating data boost proceeds to bushfire disaster relief fund

Circles.life, the Singapore-based telco that promises a “more likeable than hateable experience” - and which launched in the Australian market in August - is donating all data boost proceeds to the the Red Cross for bushfire disaster relief and recovery.

Source: iTWire

NBN Co Sky Muster outage extends past 24 hours

NBN Co is now over 24 hours into an outage of its Sky Muster satellite service that is affecting “some” or a “portion” of its 96,385 users nationwide.

Source: iTnews Australia

Downloads soar as Australians ‘binge’ on streaming, says ACCC

Australians are spending less time talking on their mobile phones and downloading substantially more data than they were even a year ago, according to Australia’s competition regulator, the ACCC.

Source: iTWire

Australia broadband cost down, but country ranks 113th out of 206 nations

A British website that regularly surveys broadband packages globally has ranked Australia 113th out of 206 countries that it looked at between 28 November 2019 and 8 January this year.

Source: iTWire

End-to-end encryption means Huawei bans are about availability, not interception

If irony didn't die in the last week, it is more than likely sitting in a British hospital with its feet up, as it recovers from a severe coronary event. But before we get into the medical issues of literary techniques, a little history lesson.

Source: ZDNet Australia

The biggest downloading suburb in 2019? Telstra says Coomera

In a year where Fortnite dominated the data channels, Coomera on the Gold Coast was king of the downloads.

Source: iTWire

Vodafone offers free mobile broadband for bushfire victims - Customer or not

Vodafone offers free Wifi to anyone - customer or not - who has lost their home in the bushfires.

Source: WhistleOut

NBN Co reveals active Sky Muster users within 25km of city centres

NBN Co has revealed for the first time the number of active satellite users within a 25 kilometre radius of most major Australian capital cities.

Source: iTnews Australia

Circles.Life is at it again: Get 20GB bonus data on all plans

One of Australia's newest telcos, Circles.Life has come out with a new option for budget phone plans: an extra 20GB on its plans.

Source: WhistleOut

NZ discounts 5G spectrum pricing as rights terms come up short

The New Zealand government has set the reserve pricing for management rights in the 3.5 GHz radio-frequency spectrum band for 5G, with a minimum of NZ$250,000 (A$240,017) per 10 MHz lot in the March auction.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co may need to prove it isn't cross-subsidising enterprise play

NBN Co is facing calls to prove it is not using income from its regulated activities - supplying residential broadband - to subsidise its entry into the enterprise and government market.

Source: iTnews Australia

ACMA orders ISPs to block nine more gambling sites

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on Monday ordered the nation's internet service providers (ISPs) to block an additional nine offshore gambling websites it deems as illegal.

Source: ZDNet Australia