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News

  • ADSL broadband slows remote medical education

    Australia should invest in faster broadband for regional areas to promote telehealth and clinical education, according to the head of a non-governmental organisation that trains general practice doctors.

  • NBN targets Australia's small businesses

    Many small businesses may not understand the benefits of NBN, despite many plans on the way targeting 2 million such companies in Australia, according to Flying Solo founder, Robert Gerrish.

  • Early signs of NBN cost overruns: Oakeshott

    The Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network has warned that NBN Co may be showing early signs of cost-blowouts and delays, with timeframe slippage and higher than expected operating expenditure recorded during the last six months.

  • VHA wary of NBN customer lock-in

    While offering neither fixed line calls or fixed broadband services, Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) believes the National Broadband Network (NBN) will still deliver the telco an increase in business.

  • High speed adult content may boost Australian NBN uptake: developer

    While the Australian Federal Government has extolled the virtues of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in delivering e-health and government agency services, adult content will be the major driver of consumer adoption, according to content and applications developer, The Project Factory.
    According to The Project Factory director, Jennifer Wilson, education and health dominated public discussion of the NBN; however, personal entertainment, including adult content, lead private discussions.
    "The single most important factor is the porn factor because pornography has always been at the cutting edge of technology," Wilson said. "If we cannot get porn on the NBN than we will have trouble getting consumer acceptance and uptake."
    Speaking at an Australian Computer Society (ACS) forum in Sydney, Wilson acknowledged that children needed to be protected from adult content but backed the idea of pornography on the NBN because it had always stimulated digital growth in many forms.
    For example, the industry was an early adopter of e-commerce and helped to decide the Blu-Ray versus HD format wars.
    "The main reason Blu-Ray took off was because the adult entertainment industry chose the format over HD," Wilson said. "No one is going to install the NBN on the basis that one day they might need e-health services but they will use that as a justification for getting the service in order to download movies and watch TV."
    Independent telecommunications analyst, Paul Budde, agreed with Wilson's assessments, stating that the adult industry had always been a driver of new technology.
    With regard to the NBN, Budde said consumers would be more likely to use the service if it meant faster access to adult content. However, as the NBN is government owned, there may be the risk of censorship by what Budde termed, "conservative elements", in the federal government.
    "Politicians from both Labor and the Liberals would say 'no you can't do that'," he said. "We are not that enlightened yet and there will be a tough battle to make that change."
    Wilson also said that for her Sydney-based business, which specialises in the development of games and phone applications, bigger pipes would allow the company to deliver more multi-media content.
    "I know from experience that consumers want faster download rates and more data but the more you give them the more they will use. We keep making games, applications that are bigger and shiner."
    According to Wilson's research, Allen Consulting estimated a saving of $2.4 billion per annum through timesaving activities once the NBN was completed.
    The report also highlighted benefits that Wilson claimed most people would take advantage of such as access to social networking, media, entertainment and professional services as well as inclusion and engagement in the online community.
    "What we are doing with the NBN is audacious and exciting but if we can't give the consumers what they want than it is not going to work."

  • Telstra, NBN Co, Australian Government sign off on A$11b NBN deal

    After two years of protracted negotiations Telstra, the Federal Government and the NBN Co have come to definitive agreements on the structural separation of Telstra and the use of its network assets in the National Broadband Network (NBN).
    The agreements, which need the approval of a majority of Telstra shareholders at the telco’s 18 October annual general meeting, hinge on the Australian Consumer and Competition Commissions’ (ACCC) acceptance of Telstra’s structural separation undertaking and approval of its migration plan.
    Explaining the agreements Telstra chairman, Catherine Livingstone, said in a statement that the Federal Government’s drive to secure the NBN’s future and other related policy changes had brought the telco to conclude that it should participate in the NBN rollout.
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    “The decision to participate was made on the basis that the proposed transaction is expected to provide us with the ability to recover more value for the business than the available alternatives, given the loss of value after the NBN policy announcements,” she said.
    “After rigorously assessing the options before it, including the regulatory and commercial implications of each, the Telstra Board expects to recommend that shareholders approve a proposal to participate in the NBN rollout, subject to the conditions precedent being satisfied.”
    Telstra chief executive officer, David Thodey, said in the same statement that the concluding the agreements would allow the company to focus on its customer service and simplification strategy.
    “The Government will achieve its desired industry structure and the arrangements for the USO and associated social obligations will be reformed to ensure that funding for these public interest services is secured,” he said. “Within this new environment, we look forward to continuing to focus on customer service, content and innovation.”
    According to Telstra the agreements provide replacement revenue, through disconnection payments as twill e rollout of the NBN occurs, and new revenues, through access payments for the use of Telstra’s infrastructure over an assumed average 30 year period.
    “Consistent with the Financial Heads of Agreement signed in June 2010, the arrangements under the Definitive Agreements and associated Government policy commitments are expected to deliver approximately $11 billion in post-tax net present value over their long-term life,” an ASX statement on the deal reads.
    “This value will not be in the form of an upfront payment, but is the present value of payments to be received over many years. This value is also subject to a range of dependencies and assumptions over the life of the agreements.”
    The telco said it expected that the consideration for the disconnection of its relevant copper and HFC cable broadband services, as well as appropriate commercial terms for scale access to its infrastructure, together with benefits from associated Government policy commitments, would produce a net result superior to other options realistically available to the company.
    Yesterday federal opposition communications spokesperson, Malcolm Turnbull, said the agreements will make it more difficult to deliver its alternative broadband plan for Australia.

  • Australian NBN Co chief issues statement on US bribery case against Alcatel-Lucent

    NBN Co chief, Mike Quigley, has been forced to issue a statement regarding the bribery case by US authorities against Alcatel-Lucent, following reports of discrepancies between his public statements about his former employer and US court documents.
    In December 2010, Alcatel-Lucent agreed to make payments of more than $US137 million to settle bribery cases concerning allegations about the sales activities of French telecommunications giant Alcatel from the 1990s through its 2006 merger with Lucent Technologies.
    Alcatel-Lucent and three of its subsidiaries, Alcatel CIT, Alcatel de Costa Rica and Alcatel Standard agreed to pay a penalty of $92 million in settlement of cases brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The companies voluntarily agreed to stop using third-party sales and marketing agents to conduct worldwide business — a business model, the DOJ said, that was prone to corruption as the third parties acted as conduits for bribes to customers and officials in many countries.
    According to the DOJ, the three Alcatel-Lucent subsidiaries made improper payments to officials to win deals in Costa Rica, Honduras, Malaysia and Taiwan.
    On December 31, 2010, Alcatel-Lucent issued a statement ruling out any involvement by Quigley or NBN Co chief financial officer, Jean-Pascal Beaufret, in the case.
    “In its investigations, Alcatel-Lucent found no evidence that either Mr Quigley or Mr Beaufret had any involvement in, or knowledge of the actions of the former Alcatel or its subsidiaries' employees that are outlined in the allegations presented by the US Department of Justice or the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with Monday's announcements," the statement said.
    It has come to light, however, that Costa Rica was part of Quigley’s portfolio. In a statement, the NBN Co chief issued the following rebuttal.
    “I have today been advised by Alcatel-Lucent that, contrary to previous advice, Costa Rica was among the many countries and territories in North, Central and South America that were part of my wide-ranging portfolio of responsibilities in the period March 2001 to January 2003, including operations involving approximately 15,000 staff.
    “This, however, does not change the fact that I was not involved in any of these matters as is evident by the fact that in the course of their thorough investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Department of Justice did not seek to interview me nor did they make an adverse finding in relation to me.
    "I don’t intend to comment further on this matter as it is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings in the US, to which I am not a party.”

  • iiNet praises NBN Co, pans lack of digital economy strategy

    Internet service provider (ISP) iiNet (ASX:IIN) has praised the National Broadband Network (NBN) but has cautioned that the value of the fibre network will be lessened unless the Federal Government issues a national online strategy to give purpose and direction to the project.

  • CIO priorities reflect NBN opportunities in ANZ: Gartner

    Organisations are looking to make the most of opportunities associated with the National Broadband Network (NBN), with Gartner Executive Program’s annual CIO agenda survey showing that networking, voice and data communications are a higher technology priority in Australia and New Zealand than globally.

  • Queensland looks to NBN for service relocation

    The Queensland Government has flagged a potential relocation of key state government services to regional centres as a means of maximising the benefits afforded by the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout.

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