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GEZA
2012-04-30, 09:08 AM
Commsday-Australia-20120430

IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Nokia's 14 year reign as the world's largest mobile phone maker is over. Financial results released by Samsung late Friday show that it almost certainly surged past Nokia in the first quarter to the tune of over 10m more handset shipments. Although Samsung did not release volume numbers, analyst firm Strategy Analytics estimated that the firm shipped 93.5 million units in Q1 2012, giving it a 25.4 percent share of the global market ahead of the 82.7 million units reported by Nokia at 22.5 p! ercent and Apple's 35.1 million iPhones at 9.5 percent.

A leading cloud computing authori! ty has warned that Friday's Federal Court upholding of an appeal by Telstra and the AFL that will put an immediate halt to Optus' TV Now service could threaten innovation and adoption of cloud technology in Australia.

NBN Co did not pay for or have any editorial influence over two NBN advertisements identified as misleading print media marketing by Federal Liberal MP Paul Fletcher, according to a spokesperson.

Current Telstra CEO David Thodey and chairman Catherine Livingstone could have shaped a very different telecoms regime if they'd been supervising Telstras tender for the FTTN NBN Mark 1, according to former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Graeme Samuel.

The federal government is set to release the final report from its Convergence Review today for public scrutiny but has not yet locked down! its official response to the report's recommendations

GEZA
2012-05-01, 02:15 PM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Australian telcos which offer IPTV or other media services would be spared the new media regulation proposed by the federal Convergence Review at least for now because their media revenues and customer numbers fall below key thresholds. But the final report from the review committee shows at least one ISP, Telstra, edging close to those ceilings and the firm has already voiced fresh concerns that the report will ultimately lead to excessive regulation. Other industry stakeholders have echoed Telstra's fears - not least because it builds on earlier recommendations for a new media regulator to rep! lace the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

GRAHAME LYNCH comments that probably the most important thing to remember about the Boreham Convergence Review is that the current Federal Government has a very poor record when it comes to acting on signpost sources of external expert advice. This may be a good thing because much about its report is daft.

Telstra is well-placed to take advantage of the growth in machine-to-machine mobile services, although Optus could also pick up business in the SMB sector, according to Telsyte analyst Alvin Lee.

A new Goldman Sachs report has forecast a tough 6-9 months ahead for VHA, with a declining subscriber base, network upgrade execution risk and weakening financials looming as the key challenges.

Wholesale aggregator iTelecom has partnered with credit management agency Veda to provide a service to its retailer clients that will allow them to screen customers for bad debt.

Qualcomm is looking beyond its current market in mobile phone processors, and calling for the development of hardware acceleration to speed the mobile internet.

GEZA
2012-05-02, 04:22 PM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Broad adoption of cloud computing could boost long-run Australian GDP by $3.32 billion per annum, according to a new KPMG report. And with that in mind, communications minister Stephen Conroy will woo Google, and potentially other large international players, to host more data on Australian shores even hinting that the country could market itself as a data haven within APAC.

Average and peak connection speeds in Australia increased by the highest rate among Asian countries in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the quarterly State of the Internet report from Akamai Technologies.

Despite next year's federal election and the currently delicate political balance, communications minister Stephen Conroy remains adamant that the government could enact reforms on the basis of its Convergence Review. But he refuses to be pinned down, as yet, on when the Commonwealth will officially respond to the controversial recommendations in the review board's final report.

Optus' decision to slash the price of its fixed-mobile bundles could impact the revenues of rival fixed-line operators as well as cannibalise its own fixed revenues according to analysts from Goldman Sachs

GEZA
2012-05-04, 09:26 AM
Optus will make some 750 staff redundant over the coming months – almost 8% of its total workforce –
in the face of intense competition in the marketplace. And as part of the same restructure, the telco is
looking to sharpen its customer credentials by creating a new division focused on building and maintaining
customer relationships.

GEZA
2012-05-04, 09:29 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Optus and VHA have forged a new infrastructure sharing pact that dramatically beefs up their existing alliance and will give both carriers a huge boost to their respective footprints. And while the pair have positioned their new memorandum of understanding as primarily customer-driven rather than as a competitive coup, the deal could well bite into one of rival Telstra's key advantages in coverage at a time when Telstra has been mercilessly ratcheting up competitive pressure in mobile.

Prices for Ethernet over MPLS circuits out of Australia to both the US and Europe have plunged more than 50% year on year, according to the latest research from TeleGeography.

Finally, some welcome news for telcos on the customer service front: a new survey of more than 45,000 customers has revealed that the majority are happy with their broadband service provider.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation team that invented and patented key technology behind most current WiFi networks has been acknowledged in the European Inventor Awards, adding to the more lucrative recognition it received through the US court system last month.

A new Deutsche Bank report has called on Chorus to provide more clarity on a range of topics at its briefing day on 23 May, in particular the customer-led connectivity issues surrounding UFB take-up.

GEZA
2012-05-07, 08:58 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:

The federal government has confirmed plans for sweeping national security reforms that would include new obligations on the Australian telecommunications industry to protect their networks from unauthorised interference and a revamp of key telecommunications and security legislation. CommsDay first revealed plans for a radical new national security plan in late March following secret talks between the government and carriers on proposals to enhance the security of the country's telecom infrastructure.

New research from KPMG has flagged growing Australian consumer concerns over data privacy and security as a key barrier to the uptake of new digital business models but also an opportunity for competitive differentiation in the telco space.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy has released the long-awaited Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Review report, outlining a raft of recommendations to change the way the TIO operates including additional regulatory compliance measures.

The New South Wales government has highlighted mobile apps, cloud computing and a revised datacentre strategy as key tenets of its new ICT strategy.

Samsung has taken the wraps off the much-anticipated Galaxy S III, seen by analysts as the main challenger to the forthcoming iPhone 5 and likely to reinforce the company's position as the leading vendor in the market.

GEZA
2012-05-09, 10:52 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:

NBN Co has enlisted the help of Primus Telecommunications to test a new provisioning system that is expected to make it easier for retail providers to launch voice-only services over its fibre infrastructure.

Telstra has flagged serious concerns with proposed new record-keeping rules that would shape fixed-line price regulation during the transition to the NBN in particular, firmly opposing any attempt to delve into its historic cost data.

Dodo has set its sights firmly on the pre-paid mobile market with a new set of plans, leveraging the Optus network as its supplier.

A new Goldman Sachs report has downgraded Chorus from neutral to sell and cut the firm's yield-based 12-month price target by 19% down to NZ$3.00, following the Commerce Commission's draft decision to slash wholesale pricing on Chorus' unbundled copper local loop service.

GEZA
2012-05-09, 10:55 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
The Federal Government has taken a scythe to the communications bureaucracy in its 2012/3 Federal Budget, unveiled last night. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will take a $4.5m cut in its budgeted expenditure with average staff positions to fall from 575 to 540.
The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy will also lose staff, falling from 672 to 641 average head count. The cuts would appear to be a result of the government's 4% efficiency dividend imposed on all departments and agencies.

The number of NBN retailers could shrink to as few as six, according to Internode CTO John Lindsay, with the hundreds of small providers doing business today either being acquired or going under.

The future of telco competition will shift away from interminable disputes over fixed-line access and centre around services, content, and fixed-mobile convergence. That was the message coming out of a Communications Alliance forum on competition law in Sydney, with both Australian Competition and Consumer Commission commissioner Ed Willet and Baker & McKenzie partner Georgina Foster looking to services and bundling as the new battlegrounds in the world engendered by an open-access wholesale-only NBN.

Australia could suffer the same low NBN takeup that Singapore is experiencing if the marketing message stays focused on speed rather than applications, according to Frost & Sullivan.

GEZA
2012-05-10, 01:32 PM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Pacnet has named Nigel Stitt as its new ANZ CEO to drive the firm further into the cloud and datacentre space. And the firm has simultaneously committed to a massive expansion of its Sydney CBD datacentre, effectively tripling its size. CommsDay caught up with Stitt who replaces Deborah Homewood in the role and global CEO Bill Barney to discuss Pacnet's future in ANZ, its move away from the wholesale carrier business, and the latest rumours of an external bid to buy the company.

Optus brought on 421,000 net mobile adds in the full year to 31 March, as revealed by parent company the SingTel Group ahead of its annual results briefing today. Meanwhile, the SingTel Group has reached a mobile customer base of 445 million, an 11% year-on-year increase while a Commonwealth Bank report has tipped the group to achieve FY12 EBITDA guidance by the slimmest of margins.

Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused the Federal Government of cooking the budget books with an accounting fiddle over the National Broadband Network. The Federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security will meet today to consider the federal government's referral request to review national security legislation.

GEZA
2012-05-14, 09:30 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has unveiled its comprehensive strategy for spectrum planning over the next five years including an imminent review of the 1.5GHz band, as the regulator looks for new resources to tackle the voracious demand for more mobile broadband capacity.

senate committee considering the private member's bill from former Greens leader Bob Brown to restrict the deployment of mobile phone base stations has recommended that the bill not be passed.

Primus Australia has seen its first quarter net revenue drop by 6.9% for the three months ended March 31.

Corning Cable Systems Australia has kicked off production of ribbon fibre cable at its Clayton facilities near Melbourne, part of a A$40 million investment push planned in the area to support Corning's work with the NBN.

In the wake of the federal budget, shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has addressed reports that the Commonwealth would be liable for almost A$2 billion dollars should the NBN be cancelled following a change of government saying that a coalition government would not terminate the project outright

GEZA
2012-05-15, 11:45 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:

Evolutions in tablet and smartphones have made the devices more human than ever before and that pattern will accelerate into the future, according to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. But speaking to a packed crowd of hundreds at iiNet's Woz Live seminar in Sydney, Wozniak also warned that the exponential adoption linked to evolution in mobile devices can leave dominant manufacturers abruptly out in the cold and even explored potential risks for Apple itself.

The Communications Workers Union has stepped up its enterprise bargaining negotiations with Telstra, with a new working group set up to look at pay and classification issues following a recent meeting with the carrier.

Professional services firm Deloitte will combine its established footprint in mobile, web, e-commerce, social, and content management into a new Deloitte Digital unit, with the model for the new business having been first pioneered in Australia.

The share of web traffic being delivered on mobile devices in Asia Pacific has almost tripled in the past two years, according to Internet monitoring company Pingdom, which says that in some countries more than half of all web traffic is now coming from mobile devices.

Telecom NZ has announced that it will conduct live LTE trials for selected business and consumer customers before the end of 2012.

GEZA
2012-05-21, 10:57 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Growing demand and operational efficiencies have resulting in accelerated adoption of Malaysia's national broadband project, the High Speed Broadband network, that have reportedly put it well ahead of NBN projects in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore according to a new Informa survey. And Australian shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has seized on the numbers, using a speech at an Informa event in Kuala Lumpur to draw a stark contrast between the uptake for the Malaysian network and its Australian equivalent.

Alcatel-Lucent is kicking off a new campaign to carve out market share in the Australian wireless space, says global executive VP and networks group president Philippe Keryer leveraging its small cell technology to capitalise on the dawning LTE revolution.

Telstra's rising share market value over the past 12 months has given cheer to investors but according to analysts at Commonwealth Bank, its stock price might now be overvalued.

The 2012 Sage Business Index has found that some 53% of Australian businesses polled will invest in mobile technology and devices over the next two years should their tech budget allow it. But the cloud appears to be something of a mystery, with 47% of respondents admitting to having never heard the IT term before.

TelstraClear Cable, Vodafone and Telecom NZ remain the top New Zealand ISPs for webpage download performance, according to TrueNet's April report.

GEZA
2012-05-21, 11:00 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Telstra has revealed that it has installed approximately 35,000 copper lead-ins in greenfields estates over the past twelve months, dwarfing the number of greenfield premises that have been connected to the NBN in the same timeframe. And at the same time, demand for Telstra's copper top-hat technology where extended street cabinets are used to provide additional ADSL2+ capacity has been soaring.

AAPT and the Competitive Carriers' Coalition have called on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to knock back a request from Telstra that would exempt it from providing NBN wholesale fixed voice services in greenfields estates until March next year. However, in a separate submission to the ACCC, Optus said it had no objections to the interim arrangements, as long as they were confined to greenfields sites.

A new Google study has found that while more than half of Australians now own a smartphone, 79% of Australian businesses surveyed are yet to create a mobile-optimised website.

Global mobile data will explode tenfold in the next half decade, according to Informa Telecoms and Media driven by the ongoing spread of the smartphone, a 23% worldwide increase in the number of mobile users, and an upswing in the volume of games, video and apps traffic.

GEZA
2012-05-21, 11:03 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:

Worldwide mobile phone volumes have dropped for the first time in almost three years, according to a new Gartner report. Handset sales stood at 419.1 million for the first quarter of 2012, a 2% decline on Q1 2011, and the analyst firm has a less than sanguine sales outlook for the remainder of the year.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's attempts to arrive at a final access determination for domestic transmission capacity service continues to prove problematic, with Telstra and access seekers still in disagreement on a pricing model that suits both parties.

Optus has scored a A$15 million, five-year satellite contract with the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities for remote education services, building on a strong portfolio of satellite wins both with government and in the distance learning field.

Data from an applications developer has identified a mass fragmentation in the Android market. The developers of an Android application called OpenSignalMaps tracked 681,900 downloads over a span of 6 months and found nearly 4000 different devices from just under 600 different brands

GEZA
2012-05-21, 11:05 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
A DBCDE review into the performance of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network has recommended it develop a more constructive relationship with industry following criticisms from Communications Alliance and the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association that it is excessively adversarial. It also found that ACCAN's membership and lobbying focus is skewed towards disabled consumers and that there was a need for a greater focus on small business concerns.

iiNet has restructured its upper management echelons to reflect its growing focus on the business segment of the market, with veteran CTO Greg Bader taking on the newly minted full-time role of chief business officer. Meanwhile, Internode stalwart John Lindsay. previously the Adelaide ISP's CTO, and before that a key player on the regulatory scene as its GM of regulatory and corporate affairs has been promoted to fill the role of iiNet CTO.

Telstra's 7.8% dividend yield for FY12 ranks second only to France Telecom in a global list of comparable mobile and integrated operators, according to a new Deutsche Bank report. However, on other criteria, the report ranked Telstra mid-range compared to other high-yield stocks on the Australian Securities Exchange and therefore not as compelling.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy has hit back at claims from his shadow counterpart Malcolm Turnbull regarding the revelation that Telstra is rolling out copper connections in greenfields at a much faster rate than NBN Co is installing fibre links.

GEZA
2012-05-29, 09:47 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Coalition senators have provided NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley with their proposed line of questioning ahead of his appearance at this week's Senate budget estimates hearings in an effort to elicit more detailed information from the company. And the senators also noted that the information requested is critical for the development of the Coalition's own broadband policy to be offered at the next election. As a result, some of the questions provided to Quigley relate to NBN Co's operational and financial performance and contractual obligations at the end of 2013.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network will aim to have a greater focus on the small business sector and formalise its industry relationships following the release of the government's mid-term review of the organisation.

New broadband entrant Australian Broadband Services has announced that it will utilise wholesale infrastructure from Nextgen Networks to launch its forthcoming NBN service.

High-speed broadband uptake in New Zealand may be hampered if the costs relating to connecting and using services are significant, according to the NZ Commerce Commission. Plus more

GEZA
2012-05-29, 09:51 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Fixed wireless carrier BigAir Group said it expects to cement its position as the leader in two core markets - fixed wireless corporate services and the student accommodation internet market - following the acquisition of Allegro Networks.

Vocus has entered a binding agreement to acquire New Zealand based datacentre operator and cloud provider Maxnet.

Wholesale service provider iTelecom Wholesale is preparing to launch a string of new mobile virtual network operator services using Telstra's 3G network following the formal launch of its post-paid MVNO service today. The company has also told CommsDay that it will expand its wholesale offerings to include an NBN fixed-wireless service, starting with a launch in Ballarat slated for July, and outlined its plans to launch co-location services at NextDC data centre sites in the future.

A year after launching the National Digital Economy Strategy at CeBIT Australia, communications minister Stephen Conroy says the federal government's unreservedly bold vision is now taking shape.

Federal Liberal MP Paul Fletcher has accused communications minister Stephen Conroy of ignoring unfavourable OECD broadband statistics now that Labor is in power, despite having frequently used them during his time in opposition to allege shortcomings of the Howard government. Plus more

GEZA
2012-05-29, 09:54 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
Long-time Pacnet CEO Bill Barney has suddenly departed the company, just two weeks after he was in Sydney to introduce the firm's new Australia and New Zealand head, Nigel Stitt. The company gave no reasons for Barney's departure but said in a statement that current CFO Brett Lay had been appointed interim CEO while a global search for a replacement took place. Sources close to the company said the decision was sudden and had shocked some senior managers, who had only learned of the decision the previous evening. And some of Pacnet's key clients had only been informed of Barneyâ?Ts departure after the official announcement.

The Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee has recommended that a co-investment program funded by the Commonwealth and interested state and territory governments be introduced to expand the mobile coverage footprint in regional Australia.

Nearly six months since its demerger, Chorus CEO Mark Ratcliffe is ready to press ahead with plans to increase fibre uptake in New Zealand via the UFB project. But he has criticised the NZ Commerce Commission's recent proposal to lower the unbundled copper local loop price, arguing it will be a distraction that will focus the industry on copper.

The board of the newly-formed Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator has begun the search for an individual to head up the new dispute body after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission formally accepted its charter and constitution. Plus more

GEZA
2012-05-29, 09:55 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley has revealed that the company has faced a number of unanticipated challenges that have held back deployment schedules, notably an up to 30% inaccuracy rate in the database it is using to identify active addresses.

Optus has lifted the lid on several enterprise cloud suite features it will unleash under its freshly rebranded PowerON cloud portfolio, including a new consulting service, pay-as-you-go pricing models and a regional cloud service with parent company SingTel.

Foxtel has announced the completion of its $2 billion takeover of regional pay-tv company Austar.

Telstra has announced that its infrastructure-as-a-service platform has received ISO27001 certification following an independent audit across multiple sites in Sydney and Melbourne. It said the rating covered both utility and dedicated hosting infrastructure cloud services. Plus more

GEZA
2012-05-29, 09:59 AM
IN THE ATTACHED PDF ISSUE OF TODAY'S COMMSDAY:
NBN Co fibre will not surpass DSL for active connections until 2020, according to the author of a soon-to-be-released Telsyte report. And Telsyte analyst Chris Coughlan has questioned Telstra's commitment to shutting down its copper and cable networks within 18 months, a key tenet of the telco's A$11 billion agreement with NBN Co.

Vodafone has called on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to limit the final access determination on backhaul services to a period of just 12 months, arguing that longer timeframes risked locking in higher prices to the detriment of consumers.

UK-based Vodafone Group- 50% owner of VHA - shed 64,000 Australian mobile subscribers during the three months to 31 March 2012.

Two new data centres being built by Leighton Group subsidiary Metronode in Sydney and Wollongong will be linked by fibre-optic network infrastructure to support high capacity connectivity between the facilities, according to Leighton Telecommunications GM Peter McGrath. A two-day meeting between top executives from Samsung and Apple has ended without any concrete resolution, according to online reports. Plus more