Turnbull orders NBN to use different technologies to speed delivery and save money

The Abbott government has drawn an official line under the policy of FTTH for all in favour of a mixed bag of broadband delivery mechanisms.

9 April, 2014

Australian Industry Group hungry for high fibre broadband diet from Turnbull

By Julian Bajkowski New Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s key election promise to build cheaper National Broadband Network (NBN) faster using existing copper wire assets is picking-up initial static on the line to the business sector. One of Australia’s most powerful industry associations, the Ai Group, has called for Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) connections for […]

9 October, 2013

Local Government dropped from federal ministry list

By Julian Bajkowski The federal ministry of Local Government could be the first of many administrative casualties in Canberra after the function conspicuously failed to appear in the publication of Prime Minister elect Tony Abbott’s first Ministry list. In a document that provides a partial window into how the bureaucracy and machinery of government of […]

16 September, 2013

South Australian councils dial into Coalition’s mobile coverage promise

By Paul Hemsley The Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA) wants patchy mobile phone coverage to be a thing of the past after it welcomed the federal Opposition’s plan worth $100 million to improve cellular reception across regional, remote and outer metropolitan communities. The federal Coalition announced the plan as a campaign promise that […]

16 August, 2013

Ruddock frets on cyber espionage funding

By Julian Bajkowski Former Attorney General and Opposition Cabinet Secretary Philip Ruddock has accused the Labor Government of piling extra work onto intelligence and security agencies but not sufficiently resourcing them – while at the same time pursuing cosmetic exercises in rebranding. Speaking at the Digital Security Summit 2013 in Canberra on Thursday, Mr Ruddock […]

26 July, 2013

Feds launch NBN telehealth pilot

The $1.8 million Serving Older Australians NBN enabled telehealth project has been launched in WA to support the delivery of home care services. Federal Minister for Regional Communications Sharon Bird launched on Wednesday a National Broadband Network enabled telehealth trial to help support and monitor the health of older Australians in their homes. The project, […]

16 July, 2013

Quigley calls time on NBN

By Julian Bajkowski The chief executive of the National Broadband Network Co., Mike Quigley has pulled the plug on his role at the top job of the $37.4 billion government infrastructure provider, a move that paves the way for a senior executive restructure most likely to occur following the federal election. In an announcement this […]

12 July, 2013

Conroy launches National Cloud Strategy

By Julian Bajkowski Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy has used his annual speech to the CeBIT conference to launch the federal government’s National Cloud Computing Strategy ahead of a looming election campaign where broadband enabled technologies are set to be a key battleground. The wide-ranging tome sets out a raft of policy actions that Senator […]

29 May, 2013

More public sector sackings expected in Budget

 By Julian Bajkowski   Federal public servants are bracing for a fresh round of job cuts after pre-Budget scene setting by the Gillard government confirmed around $580 million savings aim to be extracted from the bureaucratic machinery.   The projected savings have triggered warnings from the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) but are understood […]

14 May, 2013

Doctors operate NBN for an easier diagnosis

By Paul Hemsley Federal Minister for Communications, Senator Stephen Conroy has announced that the federal government will fund nine telehealth projects that will use the National Broadband Network (NBN) to improve telecommunications between doctors and patients. Telehealth is a technological application between medical professionals and patients that allows easier communications between all parties, which has […]

9 May, 2013

Digital dividend delivers Conroy another $2b

By Julian Bajkowski Telstra, Optus Mobile and TPG internet have emerged as the winners in the federal government’s lucrative auction of former analogue television spectrum after the carriers plumped almost $2 billion to secure their slice of recycled airwaves. Telstra paid by far the largest amount, shelling out $1.3 billion for two lots of 10 […]

7 May, 2013

Councils cautious on Coalition’s copper NBN plan

By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley Australia’s local government sector has been left facing tough choices over how to deal with the release of Coalition’s policy on the National Broadband Network that would forgo fibre-to-the-premises in favour of recycling Telstra’s ageing copper lines in many regional areas. After decades of campaigning to get better internet […]

12 April, 2013

NBN reaches outskirts of Darwin

By Paul Hemsley The outskirts of Darwin have become the latest areas to be connected to the National Broadband Network’s (NBN) fixed wireless infrastructure to provide internet services to people who previously had limited access to high-speed broadband or were confined to using technology such as dial-up or broadband over the mobile network. The rollout […]

9 April, 2013

Transfield FANs Sydney NBN rollout

Staff writers Australian infrastructure stalwart Transfield Services has been picked to roll out fibre optic cable for the National Broadband Network across metropolitan and south-east Sydney in a deal potentially worth up to $300 million. The new contract will require Transfield Services to build the passive network from the fibre access node (FAN) all the […]

2 April, 2013