Broadband News

Wed, 14th Jul 2021

NBN Co dishes out $1.1B in fibre upgrade contracts

NBN Co has handed out $1.1 billion over four contracts for the upgrading of Fibre-to-the-Node connections to Fibre-to-the-Premises for homes and businesses.

Source: ARN

Downer secures more than $220M in NBN fibre build contracts

​Downer EDI has secured two further contracts with NBN Co, the N2P Evolution and NBN fixed wireless services contracts.

Source: ARN

NBN Co contracts out $1.1bn of FTTN overbuild work

NBN Co is starting to contract out the overbuild of parts of the fibre-to-the-node network with full fibre, with four construction partners brought in to perform the work.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 13th Jul 2021

Ventia scores fibre upgrade contract with NBN Co

Infrastructure provider Ventia has won a contract with NBN Co for the national broadband builder’s ongoing fibre upgrade project.

Source: ARN

Mon, 12th Jul 2021

Swoop acquires South Australian wireless broadband provider, Beam Internet

Fixed wireless and wholesale network infrastructure provider Swoop has announced the acquisition of regional South Australian wireless broadband provider, Beam Internet, for an enterprise value of $7.2 million.

Source: iTWire

Thu, 08th Jul 2021

NBN Co to change the way it expands and upgrades its wireless network

NBN Co is setting up a panel of partners that it will ask to handle fixed wireless upgrades and new site builds.

Source: iTnews Australia

Wed, 07th Jul 2021

Get at least one month of free NBN with these plans

It's a nice word, free. Especially when it comes the the NBN. And right now, if you sign up for NBN through Aussie Broadband, MyRepublic or Southern Phone, you could enjoy a month (or two) of free NBN. Better yet, these offers are all contract-free, so you can always leave after your free month is up.

Source: WhistleOut

Telstra to refund $25M for customers' unobtainable NBN speeds

​Telstra is set to refund more than $25 million to NBN customers for speed plans that the copper cabling at their premises could not meet.

Source: ARN

TPG Telecom launches first Sydney Innovation Lab

TPG Telecom has opened its first Innovation Lab in Sydney to work on network virtualisation and emerging 5G applications.

Source: ARN

ACMA found Telstra kept 50,000 users on NBN plans their copper could not hit

Last month, Telstra fessed up that it had not been providing customers with the option to shift their NBN plan downwards when they were on a NBN plan that was too fast for the copper infrastructure in their premises.

Source: ZDNet Australia

TPG now offers NBN 250 and NBN 1000 plans

TPG is the latest provider to offer its customers NBN plans with speeds faster than 100Mbps. Subscribers of the telco can now pick from NBN 250 and NBN 1000 plans, in addition to more traditional speed tiers.

Source: WhistleOut

Tue, 06th Jul 2021

TPG and Telstra get organised with spectrum defrag project

​Two of the country’s largest mobile telco carriers, TPG Telecom and Telstra, are playing nice together, teaming up to ‘restack’ two bands in their combined radio spectrum holdings.

Source: ARN

Telstra and TPG restack mobile spectrum in Australian first

Telstra said it has seen up to 20 percent speed improvements to 4G services after working with TPG Telecom to restack certain mobile spectrum holdings.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 05th Jul 2021

TPG Telecom launches 5G standalone service

TPG Telecom has turned on 5G standalone services in “parts of Sydney” in what it said was a world-first.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co to offer temporary discount for every active 250Mbps-plus customer

NBN Co is set to rebate retail service providers between $3 and $7 a month for every 250Mbps and above customer they have on their books from the start of next month.

Source: iTnews Australia

TPG Telecom and Nokia launch 5G standalone 700MHz service

Nokia and TPG Telecom announced that they have switched on a live 5G standalone (SA) network in Australia on the 700MHz spectrum band.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 02nd Jul 2021

Optus will give you $300 for your old iPhone 7 (and has cut iPhone 11 & 12 prices)

Optus has started the new financial year with a couple of Apple-focused offers, including a trade-in deal that's great for old iPhone owners.

Source: WhistleOut

Optus outage stretches into Friday afternoon

A Friday morning outage is quickly turning into a full day outage, with some Optus customers left without mobile or fixed connectivity.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Optus hit by widespread network outage

Optus suffered a widespread outage of its mobile and internet services on Friday, with users in cities across Australia experiencing problems for several hours.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus achieves 300Mbps uplink speed on a commercial 5G network

Optus said it has achieved another Australian 5G record, smashing 5G upload speeds as part of its mmWave testing on its live commercial network, together with technology partner Nokia, as it continues to push the possibilities of its super-fast 5G network.

Source: iTWire

Optus still the fastest provider in ACCC NBN speed report

The ACCC has put out the latest Measuring Broadband Australia report, with Optus still on top.

Source: WhistleOut

Wed, 30th Jun 2021

Higher NBN speeds and changing retailers does not make web browsing faster: ACCC

If you are thinking that you need to jump from an NBN 50Mbps speed plan to 100Mbps because your web browsing seems slow, the the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has a simple piece of advice: Don't.

Source: ZDNet Australia

ACCC uncovers small number of NBN gigabit users seeing only 100Mbps

The ACCC's first attempt to understand how up to gigabit NBN plans perform has uncovered a subset of users getting only 100Mbps speeds due to limitations with their modem or home gateway.

Source: iTnews Australia

Former amaysim director picked as Circles.Life Aussie lead

Singapore-headquartered mobile virtual network operator MVNO Circles.Life has appointed former amaysim director Maik Retzlaff as its new Australian lead.

Source: ARN

Telstra offloads 49% of Towers business for $2.8B

In conjunction with the sale, Telstra has entered into a 15-year agreement with the InfraCo Towers business to secure ongoing access to existing and new towers.

Source: ARN

Mon, 28th Jun 2021

Telstra to start 5G 'slicing' trials with enterprises

Telstra is anticipating the first enterprise trials of 5G network “slices” that are tuned for specific use cases to begin “in the next quarter or two”.

Source: iTnews Australia

Swoop swallows Perth telco ComComs

Fixed wireless and wholesale network infrastructure provider Swoop has acquired Perth-based NBN provider ComComs, marking its second acquisition in the space of a week.

Source: ARN

Telstra and Ericsson make world’s longest 5G call

Telstra, in collaboration with Ericsson, announced the successful completion of a 5G Standalone (SA) data call 113km from a Telstra commercial mobile site in Gippsland Victoria.

Source: iTWire

Telstra announces 75% coverage in major 5G rollout milestone

Three-quarters of all Australians now can now access Telstra 5G where they live, and Telstra’s 4G network now covers more than two million square kilometres of the Australian continent.

Source: iTWire

Wed, 23rd Jun 2021

NBN Co opens door for co-investment at all levels of government

NBN Co, established with a mandate to ensure all Australians have access to fast broadband, has opened the door for governments at all levels to help it further develop its infrastructure.

Source: ARN