2009-Dec-9
Wednesday round-up
Telstra has rejected claims that its underground duct system, used to convey copper cabling to Australian homes and a desirable asset for the National Broadband Network, could be degraded to the extent that it is unusable.
New federal shadow communications minister Tony Smith has come out swinging at the National Broadband Network plans.
New Coalition finance spokesman Barnaby Joyce has declared that all Coalition policies are now up for renegotiation.
2009-Dec-8
Tuesday round-up
Consumers want cheaper, not faster broadband, according to one of Internode’s senior staffers.
Liberal member for Casey, Victoria, Tony Smith has been appointed as the Coalition's new shadow communications minister, but his views are at odds with new shadow finance minister, Nationals senator, Barnaby Joyce.
Internode has revealed it pays around $3100 per megabit in wholesale 3G costs to provide a wireless broadband service to its customers.
Telstra has been accused of repeating anti-competitive behaviour from 2004 after again failing to reduce wholesale DSL prices in line with lower BigPond prices announced last week.
The Australian National Broadband Network’s request for capability statements from “active network” vendors is now out — and not a moment too soon for vendors.
The first priority of the new shadow communications ministers, Tony Smith, should be to consult with industry and develop positive, constructive policies on the National Broadband Network (NBN), according to telecommunications analyst, Paul Budde.
Former Howard Government parliamentary secretary Tony Smith has been promoted to the frontbench as shadow communications minister in Opposition leader Tony Abbott's reshuffled shadow cabinet.
The NBN Co and Government may be negotiating access to an unusable duct system and customer base it could win over by other means than a deal with Telstra, a regulatory gabfest in Sydney heard today.
NBN Co has revealed details of its planned acquisition timetable for the key FTTH components of the National Broadband Network, saying it will give organisation invited to tender just one month to respond.
There is a paradox staring everyone in the face with the National Broadband Network and the negotiations now underway with Telstra makes the whole thing illogical and difficult, although it also provides an easy way out for everybody.
Within a month of the birth of Channel Seven's WiMax internet service provider, vividwireless, Telstra had welcomed it with "cease and desist" letters over its use of the term "4G" and "peak speeds".
2009-Dec-7
Monday round-up
Barnaby Joyce, who is expected to join the shadow cabinet as finance spokesman, has put himself on a potential collision course with Tony Abbott over Labor's national broadband network.
Telstra's Hong Kong subsidiary CSL Limited is ready to flick the switch on a six-month trial of the super-fast Long Term Evolution 4G mobile standard, but the telco remains coy on a timeframe for the technology's introduction to local shores.
Telstra's new home-grown chief executive, David Thodey, has been a welcome breath of fresh air since he replaced American Sol Trujillo in April.
The first time I met Barnaby Joyce – at a pub near Old Parliament House in early 2005 – he was in Canberra preparing to take up the Queensland Senate seat he secured at the 2004 election.
In spite of the many potential benefits of the National Broadband Network (NBN), many Australians may simply be unwilling to pay the price required to gain access to super fast broadband, according to iiNet managing director, Michael Malone.
Telstra has branded functional separation of its wholesale and retail businesses as “wasteful” and claims it could cost customers up to $1 billion.
Telstra has admitted it doesn't know how to fix its woeful service standards, so it is calling on customers to tell it how to do it.
With the revelation of the NBN, the potential break up of Telstra, the AFACT vs iiNet and ISP-level filtering trials, 2009 has shaped up as quite a year for ISPs. What could be in store in 2010? We ask some of the leading internet service providers. In this edition, iiNet's MD Michael Malone.
Adelaide-based Internode may soon doff its propeller hat to the geek image that has helped it prosper in Australia's cutthroat internet game for nearly two decades.
2009-Dec-6
Sunday round-up
The National Broadband Network (NBN) and the migration to IPv6 will dominate conversations at three conferences this week.
2009-Dec-5
Saturday round-up
Leighton subsidiary Nextgen Networks has pipped Optus for the $250 million deal to roll-out 6000 kilometres of backbone links to regional Australia.
2009-Dec-4
Friday round-up
Television broadcasters have been roused from their slumber by a flurry of innovations. But will technology save them or signal their end? Karl Quinn reports.
It's 20 years since AARNET was founded which, most would say, marked the foundation of the internet in Australia. It was a network open only to academics at Australia's universities and research institutions. The potential in those very early days seemed to have passed Telecom by.
Over the coming weeks Nextgen boss Phil Sykes will be touting a new pricing regime for regional backhaul, which the telecoms industry hopes will undercut Telstra's pricing.
One question in the fibre network debate relates to whether a new open access infrastructure will destroy ISPs’ ability to differentiate their services in the last mile. Since everybody will be using the same network, won’t all their access services look the same?
ISPs iiNet, Internode, Adam and Macquarie Telecom will look to offer services to some or all of the 100 regional towns that will benefit from the Government's $250m backhaul blackspots scheme.
Nextgen Networks will build all six backhaul links under the Government's $250 million blackspot scheme, connecting 100 regional towns to high-speed broadband in just 18 months.
Australia’s impending National Broadband Network (NBN) has garnered considerable interest internationally, according to Broadband Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy.
Leighton Contractors' subsidiary Nextgen Networks has won the Federal Government's tender to provide the optical fibre links for its $250m Regional Backbone Blackspots Programme, and has already signed Nextep as the first ISP to make user of the network.
Tasmania's builder of the National Broadband Network, Aurora Energy, yesterday said it would factor in rising sea levels in its assessment of where to lay fibre along the state's coastline.
Google has created a new system to resolve DNS (domain name system) queries that the company claims will speed up Web browsing for end-users, as well as make it more secure.
2009-Dec-3
Thursday round-up
The competition watchdog has enraged Telstra's competitors by freezing the prices they pay the telecommunications company for access to millions of home phone lines.
Internet service-provider iiNet is being sued in the Federal Court for allowing customers to access copyright videos through file-sharing networks, but critics of the action say outdated business models should instead be blamed.
In the face of industry-wide criticism, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has reverted to its old pricing schedule and released a discussion paper on how it should value Telstra's network in the future.
Vividwireless has revealed it will have an operational WiMAX network in Perth that is ready for testing in the next fortnight.
The Federal Government plans to use Twitter, Wikis and other live social media technologies to feed suggestions from the general public direct to the stage at its Broadband Forum next week.
The Federal Government is poised to announce the rollout of an additional 6000 kilometres of fibre optic backbone as part of its Regional Backbone Blackspots Program.
The court stoush between iiNet and AFACT may provide the basis for new legislation addressing online copyright issues, Broadband and Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy has revealed.
Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy has condemned his former opposite number, Senator Nick Minchin, for forcing the Telstra separation bill to be delayed until February next year, saying consumers will be worse off as a result.
One of the emerging debates over the NBN is about where the demarcation might occur between the parts of the network owned by NBNCo and the remainder of the market.
3 set to utilise Vodafone network
2009-Nov-21, 7:45 pm
3 mobile customers look set to get expanded "on network" 2G coverage, thanks to the merger of the two telcos announced earlier this year.
The new coverage is not yet functioning, but multiple reports suggest 3 has internally announced a trial in South Australia on 30 November, with the rest of Australia gaining access on 7 December.
The major benefit of the changes will be the avoidance of data roaming charges (50c/MB), with Vodafone 2G access reported to be included in existing data caps.
While the reports are unverified, 3 customers can already see evidence of the move, with a new network entry appearing in mobile devices sporting the 3 name but listed as 2G. 3's 3GIS network (50% owned with Telstra) has only ever been a 3G network, so Vodafone's involvement was immediately suspected by savvy users.
But in a blow to customers, it appears 3 is not yet getting access to Vodafone's 3G network (on either 2100Mhz or 900Mhz bands). However, access to Telstra's networks in regional areas is expected to remain.
VHA did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
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