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Martin Kovacs

NBN Plan Reveals Growing FTTN Footprint

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NBN Co has today released its Corporate Plan 2017, revealing decreasing hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) distribution and a growing fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) footprint.NBN Co states that its multi-technology mix rollout is on track for completion by 2020, with the distribution of technologies showing a variance from that laid out in last year’s corporate plan.

Last year’s plan forecast that 4 million premises would be connected by HFC, with this year’s plan forecasting a base case of 2.8 million (2.5-3.2 million), with fibre-to-the premises (FTTP) also having declined from last year’s forecast of 2.4 million to a base case of 2 million (2-2.5 million) premises.

FTTN (including fibre-to-the-basement and fibre-to-the-distribution point) is forecast for a base case of 6.1 million (5.1-6.5 million) premises, growing from 4.5 million last year.

NBN Co CEO Bill Morrow, meanwhile, has stated that NBN Co projects a decrease in the top end of its peak funding range.

“We have strengthened our relationships with our partners, finalised contracts to the end of the build, and improved data quality,” Morrow stated. “These factors have enabled NBN to minimise many of the uncertainties and cost assumptions in the business.

“This has led to a projected decrease in the top end of the peak funding range, now $46-54 billion, down from $46-56 billion in the 2016 Corporate Plan.”

This year’s plan continues to support a peak funding base case forecast of $49 billion.

NBN Co’s Corporate Plan 2017 also reveals steep growth in forecast revenue through to 2020 in line with growth in premises activated, with NBN Co forecasting revenue of $5 billion by 2020, compared to $421 million this year.

NBN Co recently released its full-year results, showing that 1.1 million homes and businesses now have an active NBN service, with the number of premises able to order an NBN service at 2.9 million.

Orchestration To Build Enterprise Cyber-Resilience

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Enterprises will employ systems that proactively plan and automatically respond to cyber-events, utilising orchestration and automation, in the evolution of next-gen cybersecurity, according to ABI Research.ABI states that “security policy orchestration sits at the core of the transition from static defense to agile and adaptive response”, forecasting it will reach US$1 billion in its global revenues by 2020.

“Orchestration is an evolutionary step toward organisational cyber-resiliency, a conceptual architecture for maintaining business functions and operations despite adverse cyber-conditions,” ABI research director Michela Menting commented.

“While orchestration platforms are relatively new in the market, their focus on automating management and change is crucial for the future enterprise faced with myriads of expanding digital opportunities: BYOD, cloud adoption and the IoT.”

ABI states that “security policies act as the language for controlling autonomic systems”, with orchestration platforms “the ideal medium for them to do so”.

“The security policy orchestration market is striving to simplify the complex management of next-generation network security through automation,” ABI notes.

Entrenched network security companies are increasingly offering orchestration for their product base, with ABI noting that FireEye, ForeScout, Tufin and Tripwire are among the companies involved in the space, along with newer firms, such as Phantom, “investing in the market from a unique orchestration perspective”.

“With enterprises facing expansion into new technology domains and increasingly advanced threat scenarios, orchestration will transform cybersecurity into an autonomic and truly dynamic discipline,” Menting stated.

Another Outage: More Issues For Telstra

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Telstra’s customers have today again faced service issues, with Telstra since stating via Twitter that it has resolved the issue.While Telstra stated that it has dealt with the issue, customers were still taking to Twitter to complain of service problems.

Telstra initially advised via Twitter that it had “received reports from some customers facing difficulties making voice calls on our networks”, stating that it was “investigating as a priority”.

Telstra subsequently tweeted that it was mainly impacting Victoria and Tasmania, “with some impact elsewhere”.

However, customers took to Twitter to report issues around the country.

The issues follow Telstra’s most recent outage last week, which saw the telco offering customers another free day of data, slated for April 3, with CEO Andrew Penn issuing an apology.

“Mobile phones and other mobile devices have become critical parts of our lives and our customers rightly have high expectations of us,” Penn wrote via a blog post.

“We invest billions of dollars a year to meet and exceed these expectations and provide our customers with the best mobile experience in the country. That is why it is so disappointing for us to have let down our customers.”

Last week’s outage followed an outage in February, which also saw the telco offering a free day of data for customers.

Following the February outage, Telstra chief operations officer Kate McKenzie stated that the telco was “incredibly disappointed” that it had occurred.

Telstra And Microsoft Team Up To Bring Voice Services To Office 365

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Telstra and Microsoft have partnered to deliver managed enterprise voice services to Office 365 customers, available from today.Under the partnership, the two companies will also “co-develop solutions unique to the Australian market”.

Microsoft states that “the partnership means Australian businesses can have the full scope of Office 365 cloud productivity and collaboration apps, video conferencing and meeting broadcast capabilities, along with Telstra’s voice services”, which are delivered either in the cloud or at customers’ premises.

Under the partnership, Skype for Business delivered in Office 365 will be paired with Telstra-provided managed voice services and network assessments.

“Our partnership with Telstra will build on our objective to bring workplace communication into the modern era, by putting meetings and voice at the heart of Office 365,” Giovanni Mezgec, Microsoft general manager, Office 365 partners, commented.

“The option to integrate voice services will bring enhanced value to the millions of users enjoying Office 365 cloud services in Australia.”

Gianpaolo Carraro, Telstra director global applications, global products, stated the two companies “have joined forces to enable modern communications for Australian enterprises – designed for a connected world where employees work anywhere, anytime and on any device”.

“When you combine this partnership, our core network and mobility capabilities, and our recent acquisitions of Kloud and Readify, we can provide customers with truly unique employee productivity solutions, designed specifically for their requirements,” Carraro commented.

Telstra acquired Australian application development and software-focused consulting and managed services provider Readify in July, stating at the time that it would provide further scope for it to “drive digital transformation for its enterprise customers in domestic and global markets”.

Telstra executive director global enterprise and services Michelle Bendschneider stated at the time that the acquisition would complement Telstra’s acquisition of cloud migration provider Kloud.

ACCAN: Consumers Disappointed With Broadband Speeds And Performance

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Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) research has found that broadband speeds and performance levels are leaving consumers disappointed with services.Releasing the results of its research today, ACCAN stated that a “lack of reliable information on broadband quality for consumers to use when choosing a plan means that it is difficult to make the right choices”.

The ACCAN survey found that quality is the third most important factor for consumers in choosing a broadband service, ranking behind price and monthly data allowance.

ACCAN states, however, that consumers appear to be confused by the market. Among the survey results, 58 per cent of participants agreed with the statement: “You get the same speeds at home as advertised in your plan”.

“This confusion and lack of information inevitably leads to disappointment with services, as demonstrated by nearly 70 per cent of respondents saying they had unsatisfactory experiences with their broadband services,” ACCAN CEO Teresa Corbin commented.

“The top reason given was slow speeds at some times of the day. This indicates that a consumer’s experience of broadband services is limited by factors which are outside of their control or visibility.”

ACCAN notes that, while broadband performance is often thought to mean the speed at which information is received, there are a range of factors that contribute to overall performance, citing the example of VoIP services, which require a reliable connection with limited delays and distortions, but not a very high download speed.

“Performance is also affected by the equipment used by consumers and by the commercial decisions and the technology used by service, network and content providers,” ACCAN notes.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last year completed a pilot broadband performance monitoring and reporting program, with ACCAN calling on the federal government to support an independent broadband monitoring program.

“Plans are commonly advertised on headline speed claims, which may only be achievable in ideal test conditions and not what consumers should expect to obtain in real-world everyday use,” Corbin stated. “Claims are qualified with an elusive list of factors that can affect performance, but this is difficult for consumers to engage with or apply to their service.

“If they are experiencing poor-quality services, consumers may benefit from switching providers. However, it is almost impossible for the consumer to know whether this would be a good decision because information on provider performance is not currently available to consumers.

“This leaves consumers with the choice to stay with their current provider or risk switching to another without any performance data assisting their decision.”

ACCAN states that the “issue is heightened with the promise of faster and better technologies and services over the NBN and super-fast broadband networks”.

“The quality of broadband services is becoming very important, particularly as more consumers move to the NBN, plans are offered on a range of speeds and consumers are using the internet for an increasing range of services,” Corbin stated.

TPG Targets Small Business Market With New NBN Bundles

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TPG has released a number of new NBN business bundles, which include a VoIP-based voice service, targeted at the small business market.TPG’s headline plan offers unlimited data usage, with download and upload speeds of up to 25 Mbps and 5 Mbps, respectively, along with unlimited local and standard national calls to landlines, a static IP and a Wi-Fi modem for $89.99 per month.

The plans are available with no lock-in contract with a $99.95 set-up fee, or for 18 months with no set-up fee.

“The increased capacity and reliability you can get over the NBN will really help small businesses around productivity and allow more multi-tasking as staff won’t have to fight over limited bandwidth anymore,” Craig Levy, TPG chief operating officer, commented.

“Combined with the included static IP, the extra bandwidth will also allow businesses to make more use of applications such as VPN, remote access, FTP and server hosting.”

Further information on the bundles can be found here.

ASIC Concerns: Optus To Refund Customers Over $2 M

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Optus will refund approximately $2.4 million to mobile insurance customers following Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) concerns over its compliance with Australian financial services laws.ASIC has advised that Optus Insurance Services will be refunding around 175,000 Optus mobile customers and will write to around 500,000 customers who may be affected.

ASIC stated that Optus had reported a breach about its failure to provide certain customers with a Product Disclosure Statement and a Financial Services Guide, occurring over a number of years and affecting customers who had purchased mobile phone insurance in store or by telephone.

Many customers as a result “may not have been aware of certain key features and limitations of the insurance that they purchased”, ASIC advised.

ASIC inquiries were followed by a further four breaches being reported by Optus, that had seen customers not receive one month free insurance under a promotional offer, incorrectly charged a premium for insurance during a “rain-check” period, not provided with the required information before purchasing an insurance policy over the telephone, and issued the wrong cover.

“ASIC was concerned that these breaches indicated that Optus had inadequate compliance systems and processes, such as training, monitoring and supervision of staff,” ASIC stated of the breaches.

Optus will take steps to contact past customers, while compensating current customers by a direct credit to the customer’s account, with compensation to include interest, with the telco also proposing to pay amounts owing to former customers who cannot be located to a charity assisting with financial literacy, ASIC advised.

An independent external firm has been appointed to conduct a comprehensive review of Optus’ compliance functions to ensure ongoing compliance with its Australian financial services licence obligations in response to ASIC’s concerns.

“It is important that when a business is licensed by ASIC to sell financial products to retail consumers, it ensures that it does so consistently with the representations it has made to consumers, and in compliance with the financial services laws,” ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell commented.

“Where consumers have suffered a detriment, it is important that remediation is undertaken, and that steps are taken to ensure that the business is operating in compliance with the relevant legal obligations.”

Consumers who think they may be affected by these breaches should contact Optus on 1800 854 349, ASIC advised.

Cybersecurity: Evolving Businesses Need To Address Digital Risks

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Gartner has highlighted the cybersecurity issues that businesses face in the transition to becoming digital, predicting that by 2020, 60 per cent of digital businesses will suffer major service failures due to the inability of IT security teams to manage digital risk.Gartner notes that “a lack of directly owned infrastructure and services outside of IT’s control will need to be addressed by cybersecurity”.

“Cybersecurity is a critical part of digital business with its broader external ecosystem and new challenges in an open digital world,” Paul Proctor, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst, commented.

“Organisations will learn to live with acceptable levels of digital risk as business units innovate to discover what security they need and what they can afford. Digital ethics, analytics and a people-centric focus will be as important as technical controls.”

Gartner points to five key areas of focus:

– Leadership and governance – decision making, prioritisation, budget allocation, measurement, reporting, transparency and accountability are key attributes of a successful program balancing the need to protect with the need to run a business.

– The evolving threat environment – IT risk and security leaders must move from trying to prevent every threat, acknowledging that perfect protection is not achievable. Gartner has predicted that 60 per cent of enterprise information security budgets will be allocated for rapid detection and response approaches by 2020, up from less than 30 per cent in 2016.

– Cybersecurity at the speed of digital business – traditional security approaches designed for maximum control will no longer work in the new era of digital innovation, and IT risk and information security leaders must assess and transform their programs, becoming digital business enablers rather than obstacles to innovation.

– Cybersecurity at the new edge – by 2018, 25 per cent of corporate data traffic will flow directly from mobile devices to the cloud, bypassing enterprise security controls, with organisations needing to address cybersecurity and risks in technologies and assets they no longer own or control.

– People and process: cultural change – it is critical to address behaviour change and engagement, from employees to customers, with cybersecurity accommodating and addressing the needs of people through process and cultural change.

Optus Wants Customers To Make The Switch, Launches New Offer

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Optus has launched an offer aimed at getting customers to switch to its mobile network, covering the first 30 days of plan access fees and handset repayments of customers who sign up to selected postpaid mobile plans with a new handset.The offer is running from today until May 9 for customers who sign up to one of Optus’ latest My Plan Plus or My Plan Business plans on a 24-month contract.

Optus states that if customers want to move on, they will need to contact it within 30 days to cancel the service, with Optus to waive any remaining handset repayments when the handset is returned in good working order, while there won’t be any additional plan cancellation fees.

“It’s a great time for customers to join up and see what Optus has to offer,” Ben White, Optus managing director of marketing and product, commented.

“Thirty days gives customers time to enjoy their new phone and our generous data inclusions on the Optus mobile network, with the added reassurance that they won’t have to pay any additional handset repayments or plan cancellation fees if they return their handset and let us know they want to move on.”

Optus states that customers already with an Optus postpaid mobile service can add a new service to their account, with Optus covering the first 30 days of their monthly plan access fees and handset repayments.

Further details can be found here.

Fibre Connections More Than Double In 12 Months, Downloads Soar

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Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released today show that fibre internet connections more than doubled year-on-year to the end of June, while the volume of data downloaded via fixed line broadband grew 51.8 per cent.The ABS found that there were approximately 13.3 million internet subscribers in Australia at the end of June, an increase of 4.2 per cent year-on-year.

Fibre was the fastest growing type of connection, both in percentage terms and subscriber numbers, with 960,000 subscribers, up from 420,000 year-on-year.

The figures additionally show that DSL subscribers declined from 5.11 million to 5.03 million year-on-year, with cable growing from 996,000 to 1.03 million, and satellite declining from 69,000 to 62,000, while fixed wireless subscribers totalled 83,000.

Mobile wireless subscribers grew from 6 million to 6.04 million year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the total volume of data downloaded in the three months ending June 30 was 2.1 million TB (2.1 EB), with data downloaded via fixed line broadband accounting for 97.7 per cent of all downloads.

By advertised download speed, 7.54 million subscribers were on 24 Mbps or greater, 3.59 million on 8 Mbps to less than 24 Mbps, 1.96 million on 1.5 Mbps to less than 8 Mbps, 101,000 on 256 kbps to less than 1.5 Mbps, and 99,000 on less than 256 kbps.

Total mobile handset subscribers grew from 20.99 million to 21.97 million year-on-year, with a total of 121,147 TB downloaded via mobile handsets for the three months ending June 30, up from 71,572 TB.