2012-May-18
Friday round-up
The National Broadband Network (NBN) will help underpin a new IT precinct in Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales.
The Parliamentary Committee tasked with examining the Labor Federal Government’s wide-ranging plans to broadly increase and deepen its surveillance powers has reportedly knocked back the terms of reference which the Government has given it.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's office has said it means nothing that 35,000 Telstra copper connections have been made to houses in greenfield estates, even though it shows how many more premises it has reached than the government's National Broadband Network (NBN) fibre.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is considering re-farming spectrum that underpins Telstra microwave links and radiotelecommunications services in rural Australia.
Kaspersy Labs co-founder Eugene Kaspersky has backed Labor Government plans to mandate retention of user telco and internet subscriber data for two years.
An analysis of rural coverage following the announcement of the three-year rollout plan for the National Broadband Network has shown overwhelming demand for the infrastructure from a large number of rural and regional Australian communities, with many expressing disappointment that they had been left off the list for the NBN’s first few years.
2012-May-17
Thursday round-up
Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says the government's "prejudice" against the private sector left about 35,000 new homes connected to copper instead of fibre cable last year.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has taken a step towards addressing what it thinks will be a 300MHz shortfall in spectrum for mobile services by 2020, releasing a discussion paper on the usage of 1.5GHz spectrum for mobile.
Senator Stephen Conroy has slammed Joe Hockey for asserting the NBN should be treated as a budgetary cost.
It's fast, ubiquitous and it boosts productivity. Are there any downsides to the National Broadband Network (NBN)?
Following our publication of a photo gallery of “worst of the worst” photos of Telstra’s copper network, the telco declined our challenge to provide photos of pristine, well-maintained infrastructure. So, we sourced our own photos anyway.
Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has taken an axe to the Federal Government’s budget treatment of its National Broadband Network project, arguing that NBN Co is not an asset like previous government-owned companies such as Qantas or the Commonwealth Bank, which were eventually successfully privatised.
2012-May-16
Wednesday round-up
Australia's television networks are making it easier for us to catch up on our favourite shows without turning to a computer.
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull used Malaysia as an example of how Australia should be treating broadband in a speech yesterday, after Informa Telecoms and Media (T&M) released statistics showing that Malaysia's roll-out is trumping others in the region.
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has delivered a major speech in Malaysia in which he criticised the publication of “worst of the worst” photos of Telstra’s copper telecommunications network and argued that the National Broadband Network debate should be about real end user outcomes and not about technology per se.
With Tony Abbott’s budget reply proving to be another flashpoint for both sides at Canberra to indulge in some old-fashioned name calling, the one painfully obvious feature that stands out in the fracas is that the federal opposition sees the NBN as nothing more than a target to score cheap political points.
The nation’s largest telco Telstra has declined a challenge to provide photos highlighting good examples of the best-maintained infrastructure in its national copper telecommunications network, following the publication several weeks ago of a “worst of the worst” gallery of photos of the network.
Around 15,000 homes in Coffs Harbour, Taree and Port Macquarie will be switched on to the National Broadband Network using the NBN's fixed wireless, with the roll out beginning mid next year.
How did the budget and the responses to it stand up to scrutiny? In the case of Tony Abbott, not very well.
2012-May-15
Tuesday round-up
A number of politicians and lobby groups have panned the idea that Australia could hold a non-constitutional referendum on whether Labor’s National Broadband Network policy should proceed following the next Federal Election, with most stating that such a vote would be unnecessary given existing popular support for the project.
I am, of course, not privy to the private conversations between Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, but I would assume that at some point, over the past two and a bit years, Abbott would have sat Turnbull down and said something like, "Please, Mal, tell me what we're doing wrong with this National Broadband Network (NBN) thing, and why it cost us the election. Give me the facts, so I can correctly explain to the Australian people why it is a bad, bad idea".
The nation’s biggest telco Telstra has rejected a report by The Register claiming that it is expected to shut down its T-Box IPTV streaming video platform and shift its 300,000-odd customers using the platform to the Foxtel pay TV company it part owns.
Malaysia's equivalent of the National Broadband Network is "comfortably outpacing" Australia's rollout effort but a lack of independence at the wholesale level from the country's incumbent could bite its market later, according to analyst firm Informa.
Despite being slapped on the wrist for its last big advertising campaign, Optus is confident that its new "free" broadband ads won't catch the eye of the industry watchdog.
Telstra is expected to shut down its aggressive IPTV ambitions and hand over its 300,000 plus T-Box customers to Foxtel, once the merger of Foxtel and Austar is completed, sources close to the deal have told The Register.
The Federal Government is considering whether to change the "risk-based" approach of auditing mobile base stations for electromagnetic emissions after a Senate committee urged action on the issue.
2012-May-14
Monday round-up
If we could get copper there a century ago, shouldn't we be able to get fibre there now?
Senator Stephen Conroy has slammed Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s comments that National Broadband Network (NBN) services could cost consumers more than current ADSL plans, saying Abbott was “plain wrong” “and that he should “check his facts.”
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott appears to have again misrepresented the cost of connecting to National Broadband Network fibre infrastructure, in comments which the Government has said represent a deliberate attempt to mislead the Australian public on the issue.
A new ISP has withdrawn its "global mode" that allowed punters to evade country-based blocking of web content - just 48 hours after switching on the service.
Apple has quietly dropped the claim in some nations that its latest iPad is “4G”, but continues to use the term across much of Europe.
