Broadband News
Mon, 25th May 2009
Voda, Hutch plans to stay post-merger
Mobile telcos Vodafone and Hutchison (3 Mobile) today pledged to maintain their voice and data plans for two years to reassure customers their proposed merger wouldn't negatively impact the value they were delivering.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus admits slow broadband problem
Optus has admitted that it has been "shaping" internet connections to a slower speed than advertised.
Source: APC Magazine
Sat, 23rd May 2009
Star-Tech buys Unwired WiMAX backhaul
Tertiary ISP Star-Tech Communications has deployed a fully managed internet service to 220 students at the Wesley College residence at University of Sydney.
Source: iTnews Australia
Fri, 22nd May 2009
'I changed Australia': Sol Trujillo
Sol Trujillo's scorn for the Rudd Government's $43 billion national broadband plan on the sidelines of a technology conference in the US prompted a rebuke from Australia's consul-general to New York, Phil Scanlan, and dismay among others who regard the project as cutting edge.
Source: Australian IT
ACCC Samuels endorses Telstra break-up
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel yesterday endorsed Telstra's structural separation, which has drawn strong criticism from the Liberals.
Source: ZDNet Australia
aaNet hardware failure knocks out webmail
Users of EFTel-owned ISP aaNet will have to wait several hours to receive all their emails after a “major hardware failure” cut off webmail access since early Thursday.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN plan sparks new facility for fibre specialists
The announcement of a homegrown National Broadband Network (NBN) has spurred on local fibre optics company Warren and Brown to build a $4.1m R&D and distribution facility in Melbourne.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra culled linesmen in flood-affected NSW
Telstra is sending 130 network engineers to a flood-ravaged area in which the telco culled nine linesmen just two months ago, according to the CEPU.
Source: iTnews Australia
Optus starts filtering trials
The nation's second-largest ISP has fired the starter's gun on its live internet filtering trial, a program by the federal Government as part of its bid to censor the web.
Source: Australian IT
Thu, 21st May 2009
Australian broadband third most expensive in OECD
Australia has the third most expensive broadband services in the OECD, and an over-quota data prices an order of magnitude higher than any other OECD member, according to its latest broadband statistics.
Source: iTWire
NBN critics 'opportunistic': Conroy
Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy has again slammed National Broadband Network (NBN) critics, accusing them of opportunistic misrepresentation when claiming that towns of under 1000 people will automatically miss out on fibre.
Source: iTWire
Trust us with the NBN; we're politicians
There is an alternative dieting theory in which everything of the same colour is deemed to have the same nutritional value: chocolate is as healthy as baked potatoes, for example, and pistachio ice cream is as good to eat as broccoli. To some people, it's blind justification; to others, it's a creed to live and eat by.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Conroy reaffirms funding for comms body
Federal communications minister Stephen Conroy has called for stronger consumer protection in the telco sector to ensure the Government's national broadband network is put to its full potential.
Source: Australian IT
Sol calls broadband plan a bluff
Sol Trujillo was in a typically combative mood yesterday, saying he left Australia with no regrets and cynically suggesting the Rudd Government's $43 billion fibre-optic network plan was little more than a political stunt.
Source: Australian IT
ACCC chief welcomes broadband network
The head of Australia's competition watchdog has praised the Government's $43 billion broadband proposal.
Source: ABC News
Wed, 20th May 2009
Netspace turns on Tasmanian ADSL2+
Melbourne-based internet service provider Netspace today said it had switched on ADSL2+ broadband services in Tasmania, making it one of the first to do so in anticipation of the launch of the Basslink fibre-optic cable across the channel.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Democrats launch anti-filtering site
The Democrats party has launched an anti-censorship web site in the hope of rallying the opponents of internet filtering to its cause.
Source: iTnews Australia
AAPT busts out unlimited off-peak broadband plans
AAPT has fast-tracked the launch of its 'unlimited' ADSL2+ plans which offer users six hours of quota-free downloads per day.
Source: iTnews Australia
Tue, 19th May 2009
NBN panel didn't discuss $43bn NBN ROI
Communications Minister Nick Minchin has attacked the government over reports that the expert panel didn't give any advice on the viability of its $43 billion fibre-to-the-home plan.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Sol sent packing six weeks early
Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo has jetted back to the United States some six weeks earlier than anticipated.
Source: iTnews Australia
Optus makes pitch for Telstra break-up
Optus has added its voice to the chorus calling for the structural separation of Telstra, outlining four key regulatory changes it considers necessary for the success of the Government's $43 billion national broadband network.
Source: Australian IT
Telstra 'will be involved with NBN'
Two of the pivotal figures in persuading the Federal Government to build the national broadband network have said the network will not be rolled out unless Telstra is involved.
Source: The Age
Optus calls for Telstra split by 2010
Optus has made a submission to the Federal Government's review of telecommunications regulation calling for Telstra to be structurally separated by 2010.
Source: iTnews Australia
Pipe's $200m PPC-1 cable lands despite "personal threats"
PIPE International chief Bevan Slattery said that being "personally threatened by a tier one" carrier in October strengthened his resolve to build the $200 million PPC-1 subsea cable, which made its landing in Sydney today.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 18th May 2009
Stephen Conroy's stab in the dark
Federal Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner has confirmed what was suspected: in arriving at its estimate that the cost of the revised National Broadband Network (NBN) would be $43 billion, the Rudd Government essentially dreamed up a big number and then added to it.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra has incentive to frustrate broadband plan, Optus says
Optus chief Paul O'Sullivan says he expects Telstra will try to delay the planned national broadband network to maintain its stranglehold on the industry.
Source: Australian IT
Security will make or break NBN potential
E-security is high on the Federal Government's agenda as it prepares for the country's digital future, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said at the region's largest security conference in the Gold Coast this morning.
Source: iTnews Australia
Alcatel-Lucent appoints new chief to head up NBN activities
Alcatel-Lucent has appointed an executive to a newly created position to head up the company's activities on the National Broadband Network (NBN).
Source: iTWire
Security specialists to help NBN build
Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says IT security specialists will help with the detailed design, operating and identity security arrangements needed to underpin the new National Broadband Network.
Source: Australian IT
Sat, 16th May 2009
Government clueless on broadband costs: Minchin
The Federal Opposition is doubtful of the latest government assessment on the cost of upgrading Australia's internet services.
Source: ABC News