Who’d have thought that the news that would rock the world this week would be of a 71-year-old man deciding to retire from his job? But it did and the telecoms industry seems to have adopted some of the fiery, argumentative, and sometimes hypocritical, qualities of the famous Glaswegian.
The head of the Australian telecoms regulator has hit back at allegations that the recent spectrum auction was “damaging to the economy” and dismissed claims that one of the country’s three operators was deterred from participating by high reserve prices. The criticisms were levelled at ACMA by the CEO of spectrum auction planning specialist Coleago Consulting on Wednesday.
A consultancy firm specialising in planning national radio spectrum auctions has criticised Australia’s recent digital dividend spectrum for setting reserve prices too high.
Three Australian operators have secured spectrum in the country’s digital dividend auction, generating revenues of nearly A$2bn ($2.06bn) for the Australian government. Telstra, Optus Mobile and TPG Internet each secured spectrum, regulator Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced.
Chinese infrastructure vendor and device manufacturer Huawei and the Australian government appear to have settled their differences as Huawei reaffirmed its commitment to the Australian market this week.
Australian mobile subscribers are set to benefit from a wider choice of LTE service providers after Vodafone Australia announced it will launch its 4G service in June. In doing so, Vodafone will become Australia’s third 4G network.
Here in Australia the debate over the A$37 billion FTTH National Broadband Network (NBN) has been as bitter and partisan as anything I have seen in my 15 years living down under, at times it has made debates over traditional hot-button issues like abortion and gay marriage seem like tea and biscuits with the local Vicar.
Chinese infrastructure vendor Huawei has offered the Australian government unrestricted access to its source code and equipment in a bid to clear its name amid security concerns regarding its ties with the Chinese government.
Apple has been fined AU$2 million for deliberately misleading Australian consumers over the 4G status of its third-gen iPad. Action was brought against the tablet manufacturer by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) after Australian consumers complained that they had bought the device on the understanding that it was compatible with Telstra’s LTE networks, only later to discover that it was not.
Broadly speaking life is pretty sweet for Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s shadow minister for communications and broadband. He has a reported A$200m in the bank, lives in Sydney’s exclusive harbour-side suburb of Point Piper, has a country retreat in the scenic Hunter Valley, three boats, a successful grown family and even a couple of nice dogs.
While many markets around the world have seen lower than expected growth over the past three years in terms of broadband adoption, Russia has bucked the trend by posting big growth figures, according to UK research firm Point Topic.
Vodafone Hutchinson Australia has said that the NBN fibre to the premises project is vital to support mobile connectivity, the Register has reported. At an open public hearing of the Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network Matthew Lobb, Vodafone’s general manager of public policy, told the committee that the argument that “because consumers love mobile tech they don’t like wires the NBN is not important” was misleading and that “getting fixed line right is absolutely crucial for mobile networks.”
Australia’s telecoms regulator, The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), has issued draft guidelines as it prepares to allocate spectrum for its ‘digital dividend auction’. The regulator is selling spectrum licences for blocks in the 700 MHz and 2.5 GHz bands in the biggest spectrum sale to be held in the country in a decade.
For those of us who spend our lives in the bubble of the international telecoms industry it was not exactly a massive surprise to see the news that Chinese vendor Huawei would be blocked from bidding for work on the country’s A$38bn National Broadband Network (NBN).
Chinese infrastructure vendor Huawei was told not to bid for any contracts relating to the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) project, it has emerged. Local news agencies have reported that Huawei learned before Christmas last year that any efforts it made to win NBN contracts would be unsuccessful. The reports suggest that government concerns over security lie at the heart of the decision.
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