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.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard revealed this week that the onus for funding federal Labor's digital education revolution will fall more heavily on the states than first expected, prompting raised eyebrows from some and the ire of the Opposition.
The Federal Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) announced this week that it will conduct a review of Australia's national innovation system with the aim of cutting the red tape for inventive tech SMEs.
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 Coalition has thrown a major spanner in the works of Labor's broadband strategy by locking down the AU$2 billion fund that Labour was going to use to finance its fibre-to-the-node network.
As the knee-jerk defensive responses to Rudd's "adios" subside and Australia moves on, has Rudd made Australia that little less appealing to the overseas investors he desperately needs to fund his NBN?
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.
As expected, Senator Stephen Conroy -- who made a career out of picking holes in the actions of his predecessor Helen Coonan -- was named to Kevin Rudd's front bench, bearing the interesting new title of Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (BCDE).
Like the engineers that sat down on day one with an empty blackboard and a mission to get man to the moon and back, building the NBN from the ground up is a daunting and complex opportunity that will present more than its share of challenges.
Rural areas will be welcoming the government's decision to put its money where its politicising is, funnelling $250m into a regional fibre upgrade to six rural centres. Remedying over a decade of near-neglect at the hands of telecoms privatisation, the investment could be the firmest step yet for Labor's NBN dream but with inevitable political questions and a looming election, Rudd and Conroy need to deliver, and quickly, to preserve the NBN's credibility.
An analysis by representatives of Australia's two largest IT industry groups shows that neither political party in the federal election has come up with a comprehensive policy around technology.
Remember the Labor Partys "Knowledge Nation" IT manifesto unveiled in the last federal election? It died a natural death. Will the party's communications and information policies for the October federal election suffer the same fate?
What does the recent election result mean to those of us in the IT industry, and Australian employees in general?
Many would love to see the Pirate Party and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy face off in the Australian Senate, but the unorthodox political party doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning the necessary votes.
NBN Company executive chairman Mike Quigley and six other board members to be named this week have a series of straightforward "buy or build" decisions to make about Australia's fibre future.
You think spam techniques are driving you mad now... just take a look at what's in store.
Telstra shareholders fear break up
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Having problems with complex data center? Simplify your data center now.
Can the Telco Reform Act be win-win?
Has New Zealand's smiling assassin delivered?
The long-awaited separation of Telstra
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