In preparation for its fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) rollout, the Federal Labor government is resuming its campaign to change legislation to allow it to access the AU$2 billion regional and rural Communications Fund, which the government claims is needed to bankroll part of the network's construction.
A high level Telstra executive has labelled other potential bidders for the proposed FTTN network as "pretenders" after it was revealed the telco suggested to the government that it attach a multi-million dollar application fee and bond to all its network tender requests.
Opposition Communications spokesperson, Bruce Billson, has misfired in an attack on the Federal government over the use of the AU$2.4 billion Communications Fund to back the national fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network.
Opposition Communications spokesperson Bruce Billson has said the Coalition will attempt to block the Federal government's proposed use of the AU$2 billion Communications Fund to build its national FTTN network in the Senate.
The government has extended its subsidy to help rural Australians establish a broadband connection by four years.
Say what you will about Senator Stephen Conroy, but he is clearly not a man afraid of confrontation. Well, he'd better not be, because by killing off the OPEL WiMax project he has just set himself up for a battle with Telstra of Biblical proportions or a big meal of crow washed down with a $4.7 billion gift to SingTel Optus.
Sometimes, a well-placed and well-timed letter can make all the difference. Other times, it can make no difference at all and even hurt your case. This week's missive by the Competitive Carriers' Coalition, I would suggest, falls into the latter category.
For no particular reason that I can discern, a 1979 Kenny Rogers song popped into my head as I was considering the ever more complex morass that is the national broadband network tender which Senator Stephen Conroy defended in his CeBIT keynote speech.
The news this week that Canberra-based TransACT was going to start rolling out fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services it announced in May, was at first intriguing.
Many Australians are drooling at the prospect of 100Mbps broadband, but Trujillo seems to have a bigger endgame in mind. As Telstra poaches customers from the PSTN and NBN, he'll leave more poison pills than we've seen since Phar Lap.
New Zealand's new Communications Minister Stephen Joyce has the gargantuan task of dragging New Zealand into the next broadband age, a labour which will take 10 years.
Telstra's decision to upgrade its cable definitely now means that the National Broadband Network won't get built. This policy has ceased to be, it rests in peace. This is an ex-policy.
A remarkable four-car pile-up is about to happen with the National Broadband Network; goodness knows what will emerge from the wreckage. Maybe there'll be no survivors at all.
Ovum's David Kennedy says Australia can have a world-leading telecommunications regime if it wants one.
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