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Oonagh Reidy

Hello NBN: Vodafone Eye Fixed-Line

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Look out Telstra: Vodafone are jumping on the NBN wagon with aplomb – saying it will offer fixed line voice and Net services.


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Getting fixed line service right is “crucial” for mobile networks, VHA exec told a joint committee on NBN in Sydney today, making a case for the pricey $36 billion network.

Until now the fixed line market was unattractive for other players due to the dominance of Telstra, Matthew Lobb, VHA General Manager Industry Strategy and Public Policy, told the hearing, reports The Register.

“Australia has not been an attractive fixed line market because of Telstra’s 70% market share and vertical integration,” he said.

However, he did recognise Telstra would be a “formidable” competitor in the fixed-line market once Voda services got off the ground.

And a span new fibre network is also good news for Vodafone in more ways than one – it will also take pressure off its own troubled mobile network, which suffered slow speeds and call dropouts due to overloading, and led to a masssive consumer backlash.

“If you can take traffic out of the mobile network you increase the speed,” Lobb told the hearing, adding: “recent reforms and the NBN have changed our thinking”, he told the joint parliamentary committee on National Broadband Network.

VHA is already testing fixed-line, IPTV service FetchTV and femtocells on the high speed fibre network among a small number of its customers Lobb also revealed.

But its not all roses surrounding the high speed fibre broadband network, which will see the end of Telstra’s dominance over the wholesale telco market, warning fundamental change urgently needs be ushered in with the new fibre network.

“There needs to be a pro competition plan,” he warned and should encourage new players into the previously tight market and also had some advice for NBN Co on how they communicate the premise of the new broadband network:

 

“Saying nothing will change is a missed opportunity. NBN Co should promote new entrants. ”

Lobb also called on the competition watchdog, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, to monitor wholesale prices.

“It’s early days, but it does seem that it is the same pricing or similar pricing to the pricing that is currently in the market in comparable areas of Australia,” he added.

Optus Pips Telstra In NBN Price Race

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Optus have unveiled seven NBN packages starting at $39.99, available from November 21, reaching out to mobile, internet and home phone customers alike in a bid to enter the high speed broadband race ahead of rivals Telstra. The monthly plans start from $39.99 for 40GB of data (20GB peak/off-peak) when bundled with an Optus postpaid mobile plan at $19, and extend right up to $80 standalone broadband plan.


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The plans, bundled and standalone, available later this month in the mainland first release sites.

“The competition to connect communities throughout Australia is heating up” Optus said in a statement today, the second ISP to announced NBN pricing following Internode announcement in July, starting at $59 for 30GB, making the SingTel owned telco option cheaper.

Telstra has yet to reveal its pricing plans, but unlike its rivals are holding off and will reveal all “after we sign a wholesale agreement with NBN Co,” a company spokesperson told SmartHouse. 

But it seems Optus has got ahead of itself as it has yet to finalise the terms of a wholesale broadband agreement with NBN Co.

All Optus plans will be available on a month-to-month basis under the existing NBN Co trial agreement, it said today.

The broadband only packages come with huge amounts of data and faster speeds – $59.99 plan (120GB), $69.99 and $79.99 (500GB). All three plans include the basic “Social” speed pack , with the option to upgrade to the “Multimedia” and “Multimedia eXtream” speed packs depending on usage needs.

Optus new plans will include “enriched” content offerings including newly launched IPTV service Optus MeTV with fetch TV, by end of this year.

But users who want combine broadband and home phone can do so on three packages, starting with the $64.94 120GB ‘yes’ Fusion plans.

On the $109 and $129 options come with 500GB and 1000GB data allowance plus unlimited standard calls to fixed lines and mobiles in Australia.

All month-to-month plans come with a free NBN Wi-Fi gateway and no service installation or set-up fees, to help sweeten the deal.

“To ensure a smooth transition to the NBN, Optus will also have specialist installation teams on the ground to connect customers and help make their experience as seamless as possible,” it said.

Packages for SMB’s will to be announced soon.

 “The NBN opens up the opportunity for Australians to finally receive real choice for their fixed services,” declared Anthony Shiner, Director, Optus Consumer Fixed.

 “As the NBN roll-out progresses, we’ll release a greater range of plans as well as more exciting broadband bundles that combine the latest Optus digital products such as Optus MeTV to help customers stay better connected and entertained.”

But that’s not all.

 

Optus is also looking to its wholesale business for an NBN boost announcing wholesale NBN aggregation services on an initial trial basis.

As an NBN aggregator, Optus Wholesale will provide ISPs with access to the high speed fibre network, it confirmed.

iseek Communications is the first Optus Wholesale customer to trial the service, and has also worked in partnership with Optus to develop the technical product capabilities.

“Optus Wholesale will also be offering customers a range of value-add services in addition to NBN aggregation as part of a bundled offering starting early next year,” said Vicki Brady, Managing Director, Optus Wholesale and Satellite.

Optus Wholesale’s NBN aggregation service allows a service provider to reduce the number of points of interconnect (POI) to the NBN, a major issue of contention between ISP’s, when NBN strategy was being deviced earlier this year.

TPG Forced To Cough Up $2M Fine

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The High Court reinstates TPG $2m fineAfter a lengthy legal battle, the High Court has overturned the Full Federal Court decision, which found some aspects of TPG’s broadband ads were not misleading. 

The court has also reinstated TPG massive $2m fine imposed last year for a series of misleading ads for Unlimited ADSL2+ broadband. 
TPG had appealed the original $2m fine, and the Federal court ruled partly in its favour. 
However, this decision was then appealed by the consumer watchdog, ACCC, in August this year. 
In its judgment, the High Court said: “The tendency of TPG’s advertisements to lead consumers into error arose because the advertisements themselves selected some words for emphasis and relegated the balance to relative obscurity.“

In the High Court’s view, the Full Court erred in finding home phone bundling requirement and set up charges were adequately disclosed and consumers would have known that internet services were bundled with telephony services.  

The High Court considered that there was no appellable error in the trial judge’s approach to finding  the ads were misleading.

“This case is of great significance to the ACCC because it is important that penalties imposed for breaches of the Australian Consumer Law are set at a level that deters future breaches,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

“In particular, the High Court recognised that penalties must be fixed with a view to ensuring that the penalty is not such as to be regarded by businesses as an acceptable cost of doing business.”

NBN Invasion: 3.5 M Premises Hit ‘By 2015’

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High speed 100mbps NBN to hit a third of the country by 2015 as $36bn broadband is unleashed.


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Construction on $36bn NBN will be “underway or complete” hitting 3.5 million homes and businesses in every state as part of NBN Stage 1, announced its 3 year plan today and kicks off next week April 01 until June 30 2015.

There are three quarters of a million premises where construction work is underway or set to begin this year.

The latest communities to be hit by the Federal Governments high speed broadband train (promising speeds of up to 100Mbps) include Dubbo, Coffs Harbour and Sydney suburbs of Campbelltown, Edgecliff and Mosman in NSW, Monash, Civic and Deakin in ACT, Alice Springs and Darwin in NT.

Qld locations include Cairns and Surfers paradise, while in Victoria, Bendigo, Brunswick and Geelong are also to get the NBN treatment as are WA rural towns Albany, Exmouth plus the  plush Perth suburb of Subiaco (near CBD) and Victoria Park.

In all, more than 1 million premises in NSW, 691,000 premises (Victoria), 430, 000 (Western Australia), 327,000 (South Australia), 65,0000 (Northern Territory), 209,000 (Tasmania – the first state which is to be complete), 678,000 (Queensland) 135, 300 (ACT), are to be hooked up to fibre broadband.

Is your town included? Get the full list here

All new locations were announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard along with sidekick (and Minister For Broadband) Stephen Conroy in Sydney this morning.

The hodgepodge of locations includes 67 Labor, 61 Coalition and 6 crossbench electorates, Minister Conroy declared, looking quench speculation the contoversial NBN project is a big fat Labor electoral ploy.

The $11bn deal with Telstra to use its infrastructure “delivers value to taxpayers by enabling NBN Co to build the network faster and more efficiently than would otherwise have been the case,” NBN Co insists of its $36 controversial network which the Liberal party are threatening to strip from the ground if it comes into power.

Access to Telstra’s existing infrastructure, underground ducts and exchanges, will also reduce disruption to communities.

“This is a significant day for Australia’s digital future,” said NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley said.

“Construction contracts are in place and the major commercial and regulatory hurdles have been cleared, giving us the momentum we need to deliver better broadband to every Australian no matter where they live.”

Read: Hello High Speed: NBN Full Throttle Hits Tas

Construction project is expected to take around a decade to complete (2020), with 93% of premises receiving broadband via fibre optic cable, 4% via fixed-wireless and the remaining 3% by satellite, NBN Co said today.

It will take around 12 months from the release by NBN Co of detailed maps of each location to when householders/businesses can order broadband services from their telco/ISP.

NBN Co won’t charge consumers for installation of the NBN and all premises within the chosen areas will be given access to the high speed voice/internet services as the copper telephone lines and cable networks are progressively switched off.

 

But the NBN is not just about faster internet, Quigley insists: “it’s about an upgrade to the infrastructure that will underpin the delivery of vital applications that Australians will need over the coming decades.

“This is a great step forward in preparing our country for the future and helping to address some of its biggest challenges in healthcare, education and business.”

#Sorry Twitter: Facebook Gets Trending

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The Social Network gets trending, announcing a new most popular list to rival TwitterAnnounced today, Trending, is designed to surface interesting and relevant conversations across Facebook.

Unlike Twitter Trends located to the left of the screen, Facebook’s Trending list is on the right of the News Feed.

The list is personalized, and includes topics based on “things you’re interested in” and what’s trending across Facebook , whether it’s the Golden Globes, Miley Cyrus or something actually relevant like fracking or the crisis in Syria. 
Each topic is accompanied by a headline that briefly explains why it is trending. 

The new feature comes as more and more younger users are fleeing to cooler social networks like Snapchat and Instagram. 


 “Facebook is a space where people from all over the world gather every day to share their thoughts and participate in real-time conversations, from the highlights of the Golden Globes to the passing of Nelson Mandela.”

“Trending is currently rolling out on web in selected countries and we are going to continue to test on mobile,” Facebook’s Chris Struhar, Engineering Manager said today. 

“As with other features, expect continuous improvements from us over time.”

It will be rolled out in to Australian, Canadian, US and UK Facebookers in the coming weeks. 

Huawei Begs NBN Mercy On Cyber War Fears

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Chinese telco with suspected government links has been banned from NBN by Federal Government following fears of cyber attack.
The Labour government has refused the Shenzhen based telecoms giant any of the multiple million dollar contracts for construction of the $36 billion National Broadband Network project, according to reports.

Julia Gillard and Co, it appears, fear doing business with Chinese owned Huawei may put Australia’s broadband network in danger of espionage by the Chinese government following advise from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), according to the Australian Financial Review.

The refusal to let Huawei in on the lucrative NBN project comes despite its endorsement by NBN Co, the company charged with rollout of the high speed fibre broadband network, headed by former Alcatel Lucent boss Mike Quigley.

There has long been fears surrounding the integrity of the giant which was founded by ex People Liberation Army engineer, Ren Zhengfei, in 1987 and is suspected to have shady links with the Chinese government, although this has never been proven.

Huawei’s telecommunications equipment has also been suspected of being designed to allow unauthorized access by Zhengfei former employer the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese government.

The Chinese giant is one of Singapore-owned Optus’ main network partners and is currently helping build its 4G rollout, which was announced last week and due to go live next month, and also previously partnered on its 3G network. 

Last August, Huawei appointed ex-British Government Chief Information Officer John Suffolk to head up cyber security across its international operation.

However, this appears not to be enough to win over Julia Gillard’s government or the US government, who has also banned Huawei from involvement in development of its wireless nework due to similar national security concerns.

“The National Broadband Network is the largest nation-building project in Australian history, and it will become the backbone of Australia’s information infrastructure,” a spokesman for the Attorney-General told AFR.

“As such, and as a strategic and significant government investment, we have a responsibility to do our utmost to protect its integrity and that of the information carried on it.”

Huawei’s Head of Public Affairs, Jeremy Mitchell, said the company was “disappointed” with the Federal government’s decision, but added:

“We’re obviously disappointed but through looking at what we’ve done overseas, looking at what we’ve done in the United Kingdom, [hope] that we can put in place measures that help the Australian Government consider us as a partner in the NBN.”

“We do believe we can play a role in the Australian NBN.”

“Huawei’s track record speaks for itself,” a spokesperson also told SmartHouse yesterday.

Huawei is building 8 of the 9 global NBN-style networks including UK, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and partners with every major operator in Australia and 45 of the world’s top 50 and “is on-track to become the world’s largest telecoms equipment vendor, this year,” the spokesperson added.

“Individuals and governments around the world are still coming to grips with the emergence of the new China which is an innovation leader.

“As China’s largest private company, Huawei is at the forefront of that. While network security is an issue… the real risk is missing out on the innovation China has to offer,” he warned.

But it seems despite the snub, Huawei isn’t going anywhere and is “not reliant” on the NBN, the spokesperson insisted:

“Huawei’s business in Australia is not reliant on the NBN. We are already working with all of Australia’s major operators and  invested in its Australian business for the long-term.”

 

This blanket ban of Huawei from lucrative NBN contracts is despite prominent figures on its board of directors, including former Victoria premier John Brumby – who sits on the company board as an Independent Director, as does former foreign minister Alexander Downer, seen as an attempt to give the Chinese telco some lobbying power and credibility inside Canberra.

Downer defended Huawei yesterday, branding cyber security fears as “absurd” and insisted it was legit, with presence in over 100 countries. It also has an innovation centre here in Oz.”This is a very straightforward, albeit very large, company doing an astonishingly good job in terms of providing telecommunications to a world hungry for improved telecommunications,” he told ABC.

But it appears it is not just Downer and Brumby whom Huawei are looking to win over. A federal register shows the giant has courted senior Labor politicans and even gave one a branded tablet.

The Chinese company recently paid for three Liberal politicians to be flown to China including deputy leader Julie Bishop, finance spokesman Andrew Robb and Shadow Minister of State Bronwyn Bishop over the past eight months.

Julie Bishop’s trip included a flight from Perth to Hong Kong, as well as internal flights from Huawei’s HQ in Shenzhen to capital city Shanghai and a trip from there to Beijing. 

The generous telco even shouted Bishop her accommodation from January 4 to 9 last, reports ABC.

Mr Robb and Bronwyn Bishop were also treated to business class trips as well as accomodation on separate Chinese excursions.

Huawei denied any special treatment was afforded the Libs inisting no particular political party were targeted as part of a PR offensive. However, it seem Labor ministers refused Huawei’s generosity, ABC News reported yeterday although former Labor NSW Premier Kristina Keneally was also treated to a Chinese trip by Huawei.

The No. 2 telcoms supplier globally is also said to be sponsoring Canberra Raiders in a bid to boost its reputation among Australia political elite.

 

A NBN Co spokesperson refused to comment when contacted by SmartHouse, saying: 

“We don’t discuss the detail of tenders, so I am unable to comment further.”

Forget e-Mail, Aus Post e-Box Opens

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First shopping, now even post has gone online.


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Psot box is about to go virtual

And we’re not talking email.

Australia Post announce a free Digital MailBox service to be launched this year.

The move was in response to record numbers of Australians moving their lives online.

However, physical post will still be in play, so Mr PostMan’s job is safe. For now.

The Digital MailBox will allow businesses, government and customers to communicate through a secure online portal that can be accessed 24/7  “wherever they are,” declared Australia Post Chairman, David Mortimer.

“Just as the traditional letterbox has been a vital part of people’s communications for the past 200 years, we think a personal digital mailbox for every Australian is the perfect complement to the letterbox in this online revolution”.

And with the amount of online parcels coming through their doors, an additional 30 Australia Post superstores are to be opened in response to the 10 million Aussies shopping online.

The Post Office delivered a whopping three million parcels extra during Christmas 2011.

The new superstores will have a 24-hour zone with vending machines, parcel lockers and self-service terminals, as well as a Harvey World Travel store, an American Express currency exchange outlet and a concierge to help customers.

The 24/7 zone will give customers around-the-clock access to post and collect parcels, pay for postage, purchase stamps and packaging products, pay bills and use an Australia Post ATM.

Following successful parcel locker trials in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, Oz Post are extending parcel lockers to 10 sites in total, with plans for a national rollout.

The superstore will even be kitted out with Apple Macs, iPads and digital screens to allow customers to shop or research online, arrange their parcel delivery electronically and navigate key products and services.

To help small to medium businesses take advantage of the online shopping boom, Australia Post will open a further 16 dedicated Business Hubs around Australia by the end of June, in addition to the seven that are already open.

 

The second superstore opens tomorrow in Melbourne, following the first opening in Brisbane late last year.

The next superstores will be in Werribee and Collins Street West, Melbourne (VIC), Cairns and Capalaba (QLD), Queanbeyan, Shellharbour and North Sydney (NSW), Launceston (TAS) and West Perth (WA).

Register for an Australia Post Digital MailBox here.

REVEALED: Dannii Minogue Web’s “Most Dangerous Celeb”

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She may not be as good as Kylie, but Dannii Minogue is the Most Dangerous online celeb in Australia, while Nicole Kidman is No. 2

Fellow homegrown beauties Isla Fisher and Elle Macpherson are not far behind, ranking No. 11, and 16 respectively if you are searching for the celebs using ‘.com’ search engines.

That’s according to McAfee’s Most Dangerous Celebrities 2012 study which found the most dangerous online celebs are nearly all female and warn searching for a celeb’s “nude pictures” or “free downloads” means surfers are likely to run into malware or cybercriminals looking to nick your personal info.

Emma Watson, Jessica Biel and Eva Mendes were the top 3 “Most Dangerous Celebs” online while Cameron Diaz, Megan Fox and Sofia Vergara also made it into the top 10.

Three supermodels made the top 20 list, meaning searching for Bar Refaeli (No. 17), and Kate Upton (No. 20) can result in landing on a risky site rather than pretty pics.

Aussie fans searching on .com.au sites for “Dannii Minogue” and the search terms “free downloads”, “nude pictures” and “fakes” risk running into online threats designed to steal personal information or downloading viruses and malicious software known as malware, warns McAfee.

Almost one in 11 resulting sites for Ms Minogue were identified by McAfee as “risky – even higher than searches for Emma Watson, which identified one risky website in around every eight results.

Cybercriminals often use the names of popular celebrities to lure people to sites that are actually laden with malware. Web users should also be on the lookout for ‘malvertising’, where cybercrims exploit a user’s browser without their awareness, or mask malicious URLs behind shortened URLs.

“Cyber criminals often disguise security threats in what appears to be a harmless website and use celebrity names and free downloads to lure users to their site,” said Melanie Cole, McAfee Asia Pacific.

 

“Australians, just like users around the world, are at risk of coming across malicious websites when searching for such celebrity content. So to keep safe it’s important to think before you click.”

McAfee Tips to Stay Protected:

· Beware of content that prompts you to download anything before providing you with content. You may want to opt to watch streaming videos or download content from an established site, such as ABC’s iView or Netflix

.· Free downloads are significantly the highest virus-prone search terms. Anyone searching for videos or files to download should be careful as not to unleash malware on their computer.

· Since most people use a variety of devices to search for celebrities, be sure you have up to date, comprehensive security for all of your devices. It’s important to have protection, such as McAfee All Access, on all Internet-enabled devices, including PCs, Macs, smartphones, tablets and netbooks.·

 A free version of SiteAdvisor software can be downloaded at www.siteadvisor.com.

REVEALED: OZ Top Smartphone Duds

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Hint: Its Black and tastes like fruit.


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BlackBerry and HTC are the two biggest smartphone duds around, and the ones that break most commonly, says repair gurus Mobilion.

The Sydney based company should know as it repairs thousands of phones through its centres every year for companies like Zurich and Macquarie Telecom, who manage hundreds of Nokias, BlackBerrys iPhones and Android smartphones on their corporate networks.

So, what are the top faults on a BlackBerry?

The touchscreen on BlackBerry 9900 devices crash often and “don’t like low battery,” while the top faults on the 9780 and 9700 suffer from a loss of trackpad sensitivity and speaker malfunction.

But the 9800 and 9810 are pretty crappy also, a Mobilion exec told SmartHouse.

HTC devices experience a lot of software issues, often crashing and failing to reboot, which “happens a lot.”

Worse yet, If its not under warranty, repairs can set owners back as much as $70 to get fixed.

Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone is “pretty good” and hardly crashes at all, says the repair guru, although speakers and microphones are the top things that go on the much loved smartie.

But of course the top fault with all smartphones are cracked screens, which for an iPhone can cost $120 to $170 in other repair outlets.

Apple’s arch rival Samsung has “very good phones,” but are very expensive to fix.

The Galaxy S II can cost as much as $250-$270 to repair the screen alone, considering it has a high end AMOLED display. (Ouch).

Phone cases and covers won’t prevent the screen from cracking but will help, added the Mobilion guru. 

Samsung are “killing it” at the moment say Mobilion execs, who reckon Apple has “lost it” as they have no TV, entertainment units to connect their mobile devices to, unlike the Galaxy maker.

“Samsung is killing it and Apple can’t stop it” he admits.

Comparing the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S III is like comparing “chalk and cheese”.

The Korean giant is “seasons ahead now which in the tech world is a long time” and compares Samsung’s popularity (recently emerged as the world top phone maker) to Nokia’s supremacy several years back with models like 6130 and Motorola with their early flip phones.

 

But companies are sticking to BlackBerry despite its “issues” due to BlackBerry’s enterprise server (BES) which gives good security and password functionality that other devices can’t match. (This writer also noted the Mobilion exec himself owns a BlackBerry).

BlackBerry is considered a work “tool” and can hold a lot of emails, whereas Apple iPhones and a lot of Android smartphones are seen more as toys, although Apple are making a lot of steady inroads with corporate clients within the last 18 months, he adds.

In addition, international calls are cheaper than ‘Droid or Apple due to BES and users can still take email and work communication while roaming, for free, as long as you don’t use data.

And BlackBerry devices can handle a lot more data and email than iPhone or other platform, which appears to be its saving grace.

iOS rival Android do make for good business phones but one major company recently knocked it back as a fleet device as it just “wasn’t secure enough.”

So how long should a consumer have to wait for a phone repair?

Mobilion have a 24 hour turnaround time but notes rival repair company Phonebiz, who does HTC and have just taken over Nokia official repairs, takes a “minimum” of 2 weeks, and are said to have a slow service.

Meanwhile, Telstra repair centres will fix a phone in as little as 5 days, while Vodafone and Optus repairs are slower and can take anything from 1 to 3 weeks for Optus.