Paul

First half year 2022/2023 progress report from the NBN Company

In February 2023 NBN Co released its first half-yearly result to December 2022. I will be looking behind the self-congratulations that took place. However, for the statistics, it has reported total revenue of $2.6 billion — a 4% increase on H1 FY22. None of that is unexpected; as the roll-out keeps going, new premises are …

First half year 2022/2023 progress report from the NBN Company Read More »

3D News – Russia

Huawei успешно расширила сферу деятельности и компенсировала потери от санкций США

Growth in broadband demand is set to slow with fewer innovations hitting the market

There is an argument going on between the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and NBN Co in relation to the broadband requirements of Australian consumers. ACCC research indicates that by 2028, the median household speed requirement will be only 29 Mbps and 95% of households will not require speeds of 58 Mbps or more.  …

Growth in broadband demand is set to slow with fewer innovations hitting the market Read More »

Six cities in NSW are developing a smart integrated region.

Back in 2015 and 2016, I took a number of smart city initiatives aimed at lifting the issue of smart cities to the senior levels of the dozen or so councils I was working with. What had been the case in previous years was that the concept of smart cities (enhancing liveability, social structures and …

Six cities in NSW are developing a smart integrated region. Read More »

NBN back to where it stared a project for the good of the nation

While there is still a lot that needs fixing, going into the new year, the basis for the NBN is back on a much better foundation. Just before the end of last year, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland released an extensive Statement of Expectations for NBN Co. This basically brings the NBN policy back to its …

NBN back to where it stared a project for the good of the nation Read More »

Blocked Telstra – TPG merger will lead to an overhaul of Australian telecoms regulations

As I had foreshadowed in previous opinion pieces on the Telstra – TPG merger, it was expected that the ACCC would block this. It was very obvious from the beginning that the merger was contra to the regulatory strategy that has been in place in Australia for over three decades. In my opinion Telstra played …

Blocked Telstra – TPG merger will lead to an overhaul of Australian telecoms regulations Read More »

Better prices and services needed for NBN Co to stay competitive.

Recently I covered the Special Access Undertaking Variation that NBN Co presented to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The major news here was that this resulted in a $30 billion write-down of the losses that the NBN occurred during the rollout of its infrastructure. However, interestingly, its submission also included supporting documentation to …

Better prices and services needed for NBN Co to stay competitive. Read More »

Better NBN deals and better mobile competition

Australia’s oldest telecommunications society, TelSoc, organised a very interesting forum discussion with Anna Brakey, a commissioner and chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)’s communications committee and the most senior person in the ACCC in charge of telecommunications. In her presentation, Ms Brakey covered a variety of issues such as competition, the NBN, …

Better NBN deals and better mobile competition Read More »

Starlink now covers all of Australia

My colleague, Robert Smallwood in Geraldton, WA at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (WA Government), has been testing Starlink now since March 2022 and he reports on his experience and in general, provides updates about Starlink and its mother company, SpaceX. He allowed me to use his report to write this article. …

Starlink now covers all of Australia Read More »

Tele-Energy Technology

TELE-ENERGY, or more accurately wireless power transfer, is a generic term for a number of different technologies for transmitting energy by means of electromagnetic fields. Wikipedia describes it as follows: ‘A transmitter device, driven by electric power from a power source, generates a time-varying electromagnetic field, which transmits power across space to a receiver device, …

Tele-Energy Technology Read More »

Video-on-Demand services are suffering from the economic downturn

Kanter’s  recent Entertainment on Demand data on the Australian streaming market reveals that between July to September 2022, the number of Video on Demand (VoD)-enabled households that subscribed to at least one video streaming service fell by nearly 180,000, with over one million services cancelled. Furthermore, this third quarter of 2022 saw the largest drop …

Video-on-Demand services are suffering from the economic downturn Read More »

Australians are loving their mobile phones

While nearly two in three Australians are now only using their mobile to make telephone calls, close to a third don’t have a landline at all anymore. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) recently produced an extensive report on mobile use in Australia. While just over 70% of people still have a landline, the …

Australians are loving their mobile phones Read More »

Southern Coast Register

Paul Budde | Optus data breach should be a wake-up call for cyber security, privacy policies

Andy Penn says sorry about not speaking out earlier against the NBN

I did feel a bit of vindication when I read in the Weekend Australian the interview with outgoing Telstra CEO Andy Penn titled: ‘After the storm, Andy Penn ponders his legacy.’ A key point of regret was that he had not been more forthcoming with his criticism of the NBN as it developed during its …

Andy Penn says sorry about not speaking out earlier against the NBN Read More »

LunaNet – developing the internet for the Moon.

The NASA-sponsored Artemis program is the first step in the next era of human exploration. Together with a large number of international government and academic partners as well as businesses – and based on international standards – NASA will establish a sustainable presence on the Moon. The aims of the programme are: demonstrate new technologies, …

LunaNet – developing the internet for the Moon. Read More »

Users are in control of a disintegrated video-based entertainment market.

Over the last 20 years, we have seen a dramatic change in the way we are using the TV. At the same time, the word “TV” has changed as well. It has split into two parts — the hardware and the content. On the hardware side, we have seen a further split with set-top boxes, …

Users are in control of a disintegrated video-based entertainment market. Read More »

NBN Co wants the regulator to limit competition between NBN and mobile operators

It was interesting to note that NBN Co used its submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding the proposed mobile infrastructure sharing arrangement between Telstra and TPG Telecom to ask the regulator for more protection against mobile competition. Under the ten-year Telstra-TPG regional Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) commercial agreement, TPG customers will …

NBN Co wants the regulator to limit competition between NBN and mobile operators Read More »

Finally, smart energy is back on the national agenda

For almost a decade, the Coalition failed to develop a national energy plan, even though such a plan existed before they took office. As energy is of national importance, a national policy, national rules and regulations are necessary. At the same time, we are facing massive changes in the energy sector. The states and the …

Finally, smart energy is back on the national agenda Read More »

Free NBN or discounted with Commonwealth Bank services.

Back in the late 1990s and early ’00s when I discussed my vision on how broadband would develop, I mentioned that organisations would start offering free broadband access, linked to the core services of their organisation. The reason is that it would either be more cost-effective for those organisations if customers use the digital service. …

Free NBN or discounted with Commonwealth Bank services. Read More »

Competition struggling, NBN not delivering

The latest Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) ‘NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report’ shows the top three telcos (Telstra, TPG and Optus) have suffered a slight loss in customers, while smaller internet retailers have increased their customer numbers. Each one of them lost 0.3% market share and the new standings are now: Telstra 43.7%, TPG …

Competition struggling, NBN not delivering Read More »

Labor Government must now intervene in the NBN to make high-speed broadband more affordable

We have covered the government and opposition plans for the NBN in the past, but there is a commitment from the new Government to extend fibre deeper into the market. However, the real problem is the high costs of the NBN. This makes the wholesale prices higher and therefore also the retail price. As I …

Labor Government must now intervene in the NBN to make high-speed broadband more affordable Read More »

Telstra buys into Fetch TV – will this shake-up the videostreaming market?

Like so many telcos around the world, Telstra has been floundering through the video streaming market over the last few decades. It will be interesting to see if its acquisition of a 51% stake in the content aggregation company Fetch TV for $50 million will herald a new beginning. For the last 25 years plus, …

Telstra buys into Fetch TV – will this shake-up the videostreaming market? Read More »

What will the future of Sky Muster be?

Users across the country are complaining about the Sky Muster service. They complain about ongoing dropouts and diminishing download speeds. So, let’s look a bit deeper into these issues. At the start of the ’00s, it was envisaged that the country needed at least two satellites to deliver a good quality satellite service to people …

What will the future of Sky Muster be? Read More »

Dutch solar foil to turn Australia into a major hydrogen exporter

One of my Dutch colleagues, Vincent Dekker, has specialised himself over the years in sustainable energy matters and with his interest in smart technologies, I have been following his articles with interest.  His articles appear on the website of the Dutch newspaper, Trouw. Of course, when he included Australia in one of his articles, I …

Dutch solar foil to turn Australia into a major hydrogen exporter Read More »

Telstra’s new CEO Vicki Brady – well positioned to face the challenges.

There were no indications that Andy Penn would retire as CEO of Telstra, but obviously, internally they have been working on this for some time. Telstra is really good at organising smooth internal CEO successions. It has an excellent pool of talented C-level people and there is no longer the ego element that, for example, …

Telstra’s new CEO Vicki Brady – well positioned to face the challenges. Read More »

Much needed boost for the NBN in regional areas

With the election looming, money becomes available, especially for those projects that are drawing a lot of criticism to the Government and the NBN certainly is one of those areas. Predictably, the NBN is receiving a boost in the upcoming Budget.  The Government has indicated that it will invest a further $480 million in the …

Much needed boost for the NBN in regional areas Read More »

Foxtel still struggling in the streaming market

As we have been discussing in the past, Foxtel has been struggling and is continuing to struggle in the video streaming market. The rumour that Telstra is negotiating a majority share in Fetch could further undermine Foxtel, as Telstra still is a shareholder in this venture, be it at a much-reduced level. Its relationship with …

Foxtel still struggling in the streaming market Read More »

The battles in the online video game streaming market are heating up

In a previous article  I reported on the problems that Facebook (Meta) is facing — currently betting the house on its Meta service, based on a software platform that will create a virtual reality (VR) networked environment. I mentioned that I was critical about this business model and that I don’t see, at least for …

The battles in the online video game streaming market are heating up Read More »

NBN Co’s financial worries are still not over

In the running up to the company’s six-month financial announcement, NBN Co indicated that it would start in April rolling out its latest rebate campaigns — under the themes “Step Up” and “Light Up”. They aim to attract new connections and migrate existing users from low to mid-level speeds. The offers are again only temporary …

NBN Co’s financial worries are still not over Read More »

Are we seeing the slow demise of Facebook?

It was all over the news, so I am sure you have seen the dramatic beating that Facebook received at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. Facebook parent company Meta slumped more than 26 per cent, erasing more than U.S.$237 billion (AU$332 billion) in market value, the largest one-day drop in history, also …

Are we seeing the slow demise of Facebook? Read More »

The Year 2038 computer problem – a repeat of Y2K?

The Year 2038 Problem relates to representing time in many digital systems as the number of seconds passed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970 and storing it as a signed 32-bit integer. Such implementations cannot encode times after 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038. At that time, systems might crash and will be unable …

The Year 2038 computer problem – a repeat of Y2K? Read More »

Australian farms get connected to the Starlink satellites

Last year, I reported on the possibility that LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite-based systems might be a gamechanger for the delivery of high-speed data services, including internet access, to people in regional and remote Australia. What has become clear with the rollout of the NBN is that the quality of data connections in metropolitan cities …

Australian farms get connected to the Starlink satellites Read More »

My telecoms and digital economy predictions for 2020

Of course, let me begin by wishing you a good start to the new year. It will be an interesting year in many aspects and it remains a year of high levels of uncertainty, so it is important to stay flexible. As always, the year will provide many “wow” moments in relation to technology, but …

My telecoms and digital economy predictions for 2020 Read More »

Would it have been better if Abbott had killed the NBN?

There has again been a lot of discussion about the NBN in recent weeks. As we already discussed, there was the announcement by the Labor Party and in a separate development, The Guardian reported the cost blow outs of the NBN under the Coalition Government. In my analysis of the Labor plan, I mentioned that …

Would it have been better if Abbott had killed the NBN? Read More »

Regional telecommunications services are simply not good enough

For decades, we have been arguing about poor telecommunications for people that are living in regional Australia and in many cases, this includes the fringes of the metropolitan cities as well. Let’s first discuss the broadband network before we address the mobile networks. This issue started to become more prevalent in the mid-to-late 1990s when …

Regional telecommunications services are simply not good enough Read More »

Labor’s NBN plan full fibre NBN will reach 8 million households

It seems Labor has bitten the bullet and decided that to have an overall better quality NBN, more money is needed to upgrade the Fibre-to-the-Node (FttN) to full-fibre. While the Government has indicated that the next stage of the NBN needs to be financed by NBN Co through private debt, Labor believes that this will …

Labor’s NBN plan full fibre NBN will reach 8 million households Read More »

Cirque de Solei explores the new options of VR and holoportation.

A few weeks ago, I talked about Facebook’s Metaverse and the issues that I have with this service, in a regulatory vacuum. I hope we have learned our lessons with the current way social media have developed and that we are making sure we are not going to use new developments in these media purely …

Cirque de Solei explores the new options of VR and holoportation. Read More »

Interplanetary Internet

We had a very interesting presentation and discussion regarding the topic of interplanetary internet with my international colleagues of which Vint Cerf – one of the “fathers of the internet” – is also a member. As a partner of the Interplanetary Networking Special Interest Group (IPNSIG), he took us on a journey that he has …

Interplanetary Internet Read More »

SPRÁVY

Austrálska Telstra kupuje Digicel Pacific, Canberra chce znížiť vplyv Číny v regióne

Nasdaq

Telstra to buy Digicel Pacific in Australia government-backed $1.6 bln deal

Zuckerberg’s Metaverse hype, reality or does it just suck.

Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched his metaverse vision for Facebook beyond it being a social media outlet. He envisages an augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) internet in which we all can immerse and do things basically as virtual beings. In his vision, we will all soon be wearing VR goggles and …

Zuckerberg’s Metaverse hype, reality or does it just suck. Read More »

How AI and a systems approach can be used to better understand our world

In 2002, computer scientist, physicist and businessman Stephen Wolfram published his book, A New Kind of Science. Rather than looking at mathematics as the solution to unravel the mysteries of the world and the universe, Wolfram looked at how systems work and concluded that they do follow certain patterns to eventually create a particular outcome. …

How AI and a systems approach can be used to better understand our world Read More »

Unveiling T25, Telstra’s vision of its future.

In September 2021, Telstra CEO Andy Penn revealed the company’s plan for the next four years, unveiling T25 — the next tranche of T22, which is part of an ongoing transformation of the telco. This is the company’s strategic program aimed at leading the Australian telecommunications market by simplifying its operations and product set, improving …

Unveiling T25, Telstra’s vision of its future. Read More »

C-V2X standard for autonomous vehicle services

Around 20 years ago, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the USA allocated 75 MHz (5.85-5.925 GHz) to Intelligent Transportation Systems. This led to the dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) standard, 802.11p, which is a tweak of 802.11a. Approximately zero cars adopted it. There were demo projects and some roadside units were built, but it never …

C-V2X standard for autonomous vehicle services Read More »

Government want NBN Co to focus on the money.

Rather conveniently, NBN Co has removed all forward financial projections beyond the next 12 months in its Corporate Plan for 2022, released last week. As I also mentioned when the Government released its financial results a few weeks ago, understanding how the company is really performing remains rather murky. The new corporate plan only adds …

Government want NBN Co to focus on the money. Read More »

Global developments in broadband

High-speed fibre overtakes DSL as OECD countries add 21 million fixed broadband connections in pandemic year High-speed fibre Internet subscriptions surpassed copper-wire DSL connections across OECD countries for the first time in 2020 as the need to move work and home life activities online during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a record 21.15 million new …

Global developments in broadband Read More »

Vale Professor Reg Coutts

By Ben Grubb in InnovationAus In 2008, Professor Coutts was appointed by then-communications minister Stephen Conroy as one of six members of a panel of experts to assess proposals to build the NBN and to advise the government on the awarding of a $4.7 billion contract to part-fund its construction. The panel eventually rejected all …

Vale Professor Reg Coutts Read More »

Satellite another tool in the fight against Covid

Over the last few decades of an increasingly well-connected world, the use of data to assist us in managing the many complex issues that we as a global society are facing has become more and more important. We have seen this in the IPCC report on climate change, which uses massive amounts of data that …

Satellite another tool in the fight against Covid Read More »

NBN hits a financial target that has been revised downwards several times

In August, NBN Co announced its financial results for the financial year ending 30 June 2021. It showed that it had activated 8.2 million customers. Interestingly they mentioned that this was on target — returning $4.6 billion of revenues and an improved net loss of $3.8 billion. But as I have also mentioned in previous …

NBN hits a financial target that has been revised downwards several times Read More »

Success of Telehealth in Australia in glowing numbers

Last year I reported on the success of telehealth. I can now tell that the service will be permanent feature of the medical service in Australia. People including myself have been arguing for this for more than 15 years, but it required a crisis such as Covid to see it implemented and becoming a key …

Success of Telehealth in Australia in glowing numbers Read More »

Back to the future with FttH and finally mobile roaming is on the cards.

In a surprise move, the Commonwealth Bank took a 25% stake in two of the NBN Retail Service Providers (RSPs): More Telecom and Tangerine. As electronic banking is growing exponentially, the bank wants to become more involved in the telecoms market which is key in providing access to such services. As Australia has one of …

Back to the future with FttH and finally mobile roaming is on the cards. Read More »

Broadband Developments in the South Pacific

The Australian Government together with Telstra have made a $2 billion offer for the Digicel telco assets in the South Pacific.  The Irish company is one of the largest mobile operators in island nations in both the Caribbean and the South Pacific. It is facing financial difficulties because of the drop in revenues from tourists …

Broadband Developments in the South Pacific Read More »

Will 5G be a game changer or simply a 4G upgrade.

We have covered several articles about the potential of 5G being a competitor to the NBN. I have always downplayed this but have also indicated that there certainly are new niche market opportunities of 5G. However, these will be incremental, and its main development is simply replacing 4G, as it offers significant network efficiencies for …

Will 5G be a game changer or simply a 4G upgrade. Read More »

New NBN proposal smoke and mirrors, no real reform.

While the NBN Co’s discussion paper on its special access undertaking variation is to be welcomed, the question remains whether this really is going to make true high-speed broadband more affordable. On several occasions, we have discussed the contentious wholesale pricing regime and, in particular, a charge known as the connectivity virtual circuit (CVC), which …

New NBN proposal smoke and mirrors, no real reform. Read More »

The ACCC is worried we will use the NBN too much.

Recently, IT was reported that a new Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Commissioner, Anna Brakey, said: We have got an opportunity to have a look at the regulatory framework and to make sure, that we efficiently use the NBN. If we set prices too low, there would be overuse of the NBN. And as …

The ACCC is worried we will use the NBN too much. Read More »

Also, with electric vehicles Australia is trailing the world.

We have had former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s “kill the NBN” policy, Scott Morrison bringing a lump of coal into the Parliament and then-Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash tried to scare Australian ute drivers by proclaiming they would be obliterated by electric vehicles (EVs). Scott Morrison also questioned the need for big batteries, which he …

Also, with electric vehicles Australia is trailing the world. Read More »

Challenging telecoms conditions for the Northern Territory

Recently, I visited the Northern Territory. Apart from the occasional business meeting in Darwin, this was my third trip to this amazing part of Australia. I first spent time here in 1988, when I lived for two weeks with the Angatja people in Amata, approximately 100 kilometres south of Uluru. My second trip some 10 …

Challenging telecoms conditions for the Northern Territory Read More »

NBN faces new problems but executives paid bonusses

There is never a dull moment in the NBN saga, with the following happening over the last few weeks: NBN executives paid themselves $77 million in bonuses; construction staff went on strike as they missed out on proper payments and are also frustrated with the inefficiencies of the rollout activities; NBN Co announced it will …

NBN faces new problems but executives paid bonusses Read More »

Enough is enough ACCC will become involved in the NBN monopoly.

NBN Co has released its plans for the 2021 pricing review consultation process. It is seeking retail service provider (RSP) and broader industry feedback on current and future matters of NBN wholesale pricing. However, in its outline of what will be reviewed, it became clear that the key issues are not on the discussion list. …

Enough is enough ACCC will become involved in the NBN monopoly. Read More »

$100 billion national broadband plan for America.

The new Biden Administration in the USA laid out a $100 billion proposal for broadband investment as part of its $2 trillion+  infrastructure plan. Under the proposal, the plan is to provide national broadband coverage. The Administration will use better competition measures, such a price transparency, the use of public utility infrastructure and subsidies for …

$100 billion national broadband plan for America. Read More »

Connected Farms

Late last year I wrote an article on e-agriculture activities based on my trip into outback Queensland Agriculture ICT and travelling in Outback Queensland. I received this follow up from Tom Andrews from Connected Farms. I recall that last October you did an excellent article about the importance of connectivity for the  Australian farming sector …

Connected Farms Read More »

Broadband users are going to pay for failed NBN policies.

For more than a decade – dating back to the original NBN plan from the Labor Government – the retail service providers (RSPs) have argued against the unpredictable variable elements in its wholesale charges (the so-called connectivity virtual charges or CVCs). We have covered this at length in previous articles going back at least to …

Broadband users are going to pay for failed NBN policies. Read More »

Are the LEOs going to disrupt the telco market?

We are getting closer to using alternative broadband solutions, offered by international companies. Local telecommunication entities will in this respect be relegated to resellers. The reality of accessing low Earth orbiting satellite (LEO) services is now clearly on the horizon. Most of the telcos as well as governments are not prepared for the potential shock …

Are the LEOs going to disrupt the telco market? Read More »

Telstra restructuring too little too late?

Telstra is finalising its restructuring that we discussed in previous articles here and here. With the restructuring, it very much looks like the focus will shift towards infrastructure rather than digital services — that battle might have been lost. While the Telstra restructuring is heralded as a good move, it is important to put this …

Telstra restructuring too little too late? Read More »

Australian fixed broadband in the international context.

During the past two decade, there have been considerable efforts undertaken by governments and national telecom regulators to ensure that their countries’ economic growth is underpinned by capable broadband infrastructure. The success of national policies has been variable, but the scale of investment and the way the development of fibre infrastructure has been encouraged has …

Australian fixed broadband in the international context. Read More »

NBN wants us to pay more for their broadband service.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen several new announcements from NBN Co. The key announcements include: A payment of $3 billion to the Government as a repayment of their $19.5 billion investment; An extra 100,000 fibre-to-the-node (FttN) premises will be upgraded to fibre-to-the-premise (FttP) infrastructure; and A complex review of their already complex …

NBN wants us to pay more for their broadband service. Read More »

Macquarie Group is set to shake up the digital infrastructure market.

A few months ago, I reported on the broader market of which telecommunications infrastructure is a part. I mentioned data centres, cloud computing and data analytics (big data). All together we can perhaps best call this digital infrastructure. While the importance of this merged set of infrastructures will benefit all economies and societies, I recently …

Macquarie Group is set to shake up the digital infrastructure market. Read More »

What will 2021 have install for the ICT industry?

While 2021 will remain a year with lots of uncertainties, at the same we can say that the pandemic has not affected the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in any significant way. Yes, there has been a slowdown, for example, in the sale of smartphones. Shortages in both materials and expertise are slowing the …

What will 2021 have install for the ICT industry? Read More »

Massive renewable energy projects underpinned by ICT technologies

In the mid to late 2000s, I set up the industry association Smart Grid Australia (SGA). The reason why I became involved in the smart energy sector was that earlier that decade I had established the industry group UtiliTel. At that time, Telstra was reluctant to go even beyond the integrated services digital network (ISDN) …

Massive renewable energy projects underpinned by ICT technologies Read More »

The break-up of Telstra: Interesting potential new telecoms scenarios.

For decades, we have basically been conditioned to look at the telecoms market based on the regulatory arrangements that exist around it. The Postmaster-General’s Department (PMG) which became Telecom Australia was a state-owned business that had the monopoly on all telecoms services and was mainly paid for by taxpayers. The market was opened in the …

The break-up of Telstra: Interesting potential new telecoms scenarios. Read More »

Will Infra Co be gamechanger in the telecoms market?

It has taken a long time but it is good to see that Telstra has finally recognised that a significant part of its business is infrastructure. The business model of infrastructure is rather different from that of services. Infrastructure will not necessarily achieve high short-term returns but it will deliver long term very steady returns …

Will Infra Co be gamechanger in the telecoms market? Read More »

Smart Regional Towns – Game changers for reginal and rural Australia

Developments in telecommunications and technology are key to creating more liveable regional centres. At the recent CommsDay Summit, two interesting Low Earth Orbiting Satellites (LEOsat) services were mentioned. . A few months ago I wrote an extensive article on this subject., which provides some global background information on these satellite development. At the conference, Michael …

Smart Regional Towns – Game changers for reginal and rural Australia Read More »

Government backed NBN monopoly is flexing its muscles

Over the last year, we have discussed the unsustainably high wholesale charges that NBN Co is raking in. They need this just to recoup the blowout of the investments in their second-rate multi-technology mix (MtM) infrastructure. The Government, following its election win in 2013, handpicked a new NBN team. They were favourable to their policies, …

Government backed NBN monopoly is flexing its muscles Read More »

NBN battle between the ACCC and the Government

It came as a surprise to many in the telecoms industry as well as in the legal profession that the Government issued a Statement of Expectation (SoE) to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). In my opinion, what this means is that the Government would like the ACCC to facilitate NBN Co to increase …

NBN battle between the ACCC and the Government Read More »

Agriculture ICT and travelling in Outback Queensland

In October 2020, I went on a two-week tour into Queensland’s Outback, travelling through various landscapes from pastoral and agricultural lands to savanna and the desert. Leaving Brisbane, past Toowoomba you enter the Darling Downs. This is one of the richest agricultural areas in Australia. It was first explored by British Botanist Alan Cunningham in …

Agriculture ICT and travelling in Outback Queensland Read More »

Vale Brian Perkins

Former AAP Telecommunications executive Brian Perkins has died in Sydney, aged 88. Brian was my mentor in the telecoms industry during the 1990s. I have very fond memories of him, most importantly as a person. He generously shared his understanding of the industry and the many contacts he was able to build up during that …

Vale Brian Perkins Read More »

Smart cities want to co-design change with Telcos

With 5G earmarked as a game-changer for cities, wireless technologies are already widely deployed by Australia’s leading smart cities. However, cities do not want to be locked into proprietary technology solutions, rather seeing themselves as a platform on which many organisations can build infrastructure, applications and services for the benefit of all citizens and all …

Smart cities want to co-design change with Telcos Read More »

Newcastle: Australia’s leading smart city

Over the last five years, I have seen from close the city of Newcastle moving towards becoming a smart city. Most certainly, the phrase “smart city” is a rather nebulous one, but it basically means utilising new technologies to enable communities to build a city that delivers more and better social and economic outcomes for …

Newcastle: Australia’s leading smart city Read More »

5G will not be the panacea for all our communication needs

As I mentioned in a previous article, I chaired three masterclasses on 5G. It is always great to listen to experts who I trust as they provide important input in the knowledge I need to obtain for that higher level of insight I need to put a range of technical and business issues together in …

5G will not be the panacea for all our communication needs Read More »

The incredible telehealth transformation

There are many healthcare needs that can only be successfully addressed in face-to-face visits with health practitioners. It is necessary to see a medical practitioner when we need to discuss private health issues in detail, to canvass different health or treatment options and to assess our health. Having said this, there are many other situations …

The incredible telehealth transformation Read More »

Smart Cities moving into 5G

Later this month, I will be sharing three masterclasses organised by the Australian Smart Communities Association (ASCA) and the Australian Computer Society (ASC) on the potential of using 5G as an infrastructure solution for smart cities. Just to make sure, I am doing this pro bono so no financial gain or otherwise for me. What …

Smart Cities moving into 5G Read More »

The government dug its own NBN hole, how to get out of it?

As with any large-scale project, you need a long-term vision on the investment that you are going to make. Once that vision is agreed upon, solid strategies need to be developed. Next is a careful design to ensure that what you have designed will work in practice. Only then are you going to start with …

The government dug its own NBN hole, how to get out of it? Read More »

The digital economy is spreading out more broadly.

The pandemic has shown us that some of the early models in the so-called sharing economy have become more mainstream. The early pioneers were companies such as Uber, Airbnb, eBay and Gumtree. But others have been making a name for themselves in transport, for example, Shebah (all-female drivers) and Camplify (caravan sharing and RCs). Spacer, …

The digital economy is spreading out more broadly. Read More »

Are we building a mediocre NBN for the ‘average user’?

Are we building a mediocre NBN for the average user? Interesting new research conducted by the Bureau of Communications and Arts Research predicts that average Australian data consumption is set to quadruple by 2028, based on figures from 2018. But they also predict that peak bandwidth will grow less rapidly. In their words: ‘Bandwidth requirements …

Are we building a mediocre NBN for the ‘average user’? Read More »

City-as-a-service – new business and investment model

While there are plenty of opportunities for local councils to create cost savings – especially by cutting through their internal silos and using ICT and infrastructure technologies on a sharing basis across the various city systems – the problem remains that before these cost savings can be made, significant ICT investments are needed. The reality …

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Internet of Things requires a rethink of business models.

There certainly is a lot of interest in machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the internet of things (IoT). But what we are seeing is only what is happening on the surface. Most of the M2M activities are taking place unnoticed. For example, most newly produced electronic devices are now all M2M enabled. Over 100 million smart …

Internet of Things requires a rethink of business models. Read More »

Nano networks set to revolutionise edge computing

I recently followed a “lunch box lecture”, organised by the University of Sydney. In the talk, Professor Zdenka Kuncic explored the very topical issue of artificial intelligence. The world is infatuated with artificial intelligence (AI), and understandably so, given its super-human ability to find patterns in big data as we all notice when using Google, …

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New push for cheaper energy costs and a much more efficient energy industry.

As the initiator of Smart Energy Australia in 2007, I looked with the experts of this industry association at how we could use technologies to make our energy system more efficient, cheaper, and less polluting. Of course, this included the arrival of renewable energy and technology developments in areas such as microgrids, distributed energy and …

New push for cheaper energy costs and a much more efficient energy industry. Read More »

Innovative entertainment industry will bounce forwards after Covid

My brother Rob lives in Rimini, Italy and he has his own company Màgina, involved in “tailor-made” events for large organisations throughout Europe. Their activities include team building, product launches, client shows and so on. Of course, with COVID-19 his business totally collapsed overnight. A few clients have indicated that they will review the situation …

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Hassle over LEOs

The following article is based on a blog written by my Dutch colleague Fred Kappetijn. We have worked together to present this to you. Every second, 4.5 billion people using computers and other electronic devices send 100,000 gigabytes of information to each other. Around 60% of the world’s population has an internet connection. North America …

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Digital economy essential for regional Australia

Back in the early 1990s, I was a founding board member of Service Providers Action Network (SPAN), which later became part of Communications Alliance. The key aim of this organisation was the promotion of new value-added services that could be provided over the telecommunications network. At this time there was no public internet and we …

Digital economy essential for regional Australia Read More »

Building independent Gig Cities: this happens when you have a 2nd rate NBN

Adelaide was one of the first cities to build a gigabit fibre optic network but soon others followed. Newcastle, Wollongong, Launceston and the NSW Central Coast Council are now all developing their own gigabit infrastructure. Now, the NSW Government is putting $100 million dollars aside for the provision of “innovative systems” to improve the price, …

Building independent Gig Cities: this happens when you have a 2nd rate NBN Read More »

Encouraging online lessons from the corona crisis

The players in the telecommunications industry have decisively reacted to the COVID-19 crisis. The NBN is holding up and the company is effectively implementing a range of measures for those who rely on it. Equally, the support from the major telcos and the digital players has been first-class and, where needed, the industry is working …

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Will the NBN stand up in the Covid-19 pandemic?

In a previous blog I addressed the issue of teleworking and e-health application in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also mentioned the impact that this will have on our telecommunications networks. This time I would like to go a little bit deeper into this. It is a no-brainer to predict that when schools …

Will the NBN stand up in the Covid-19 pandemic? Read More »

The end of Foxtel’s pay TV service?

Back in the early 2000s when the apartment complex where we are currently living was built, Telstra installed a coax cable in the complex together with the ordinary copper cable. The Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) cable allowed Telstra to offer better broadband services and Foxtel to deliver its proprietary pay-TV service. There is now turmoil …

The end of Foxtel’s pay TV service? Read More »

NBN Co is giving in to pressure to stop competing with its own retail customers.

The original plans for the NBN were to build a high-speed residential broadband network that would be made available to the other telcos on a wholesale basis.  Corporate infrastructure was basically left out of the plan as these organisations were in general well serviced by competing networks. But wait there was a loophole. What exactly …

NBN Co is giving in to pressure to stop competing with its own retail customers. Read More »

NBN troubles continues

I had an interesting discussion on the NBN with several long-term colleagues. What triggered this discussion – we have had many more of them in the past – was the latest results from the Ookla fixed broadband speed rankings. The downward trend that we have seen now for the last decade continues. Australia is now …

NBN troubles continues Read More »

The role of FttH in the development of 5G

As the rollout of fibre to the home project (FttH) remains a slow process it is no wonder that more and more people are looking towards mobile as a potential alternative. Obviously, mobile communication has improved over recent years in providing excellent access to broadband. It has also become more affordable. At the same time, …

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Broadband driven Smart Energy Developments

There is no doubt that we are in the midst of an energy revolution. Not only is the nature of energy changing from fossil-generated energy to renewable – there is a total change in the distribution structure occurring with less focus on centralisation and more on distributed energy. Concerns about issues such as energy security, …

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The power of data in smart city developments

A few weeks, I attended a one-day conference at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) at the occasion of the launch of their new $7.5 million Centre for Data Science. This laboratory is also the lead node of a new Australian Data Science Network, bringing together data science organisations from across the country. The new …

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Full fibre NBN back on the agenda

Britain’s Labour Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised a national fibre-to-home network for nine million homes in the UK to be completed by 2030 at a cost of £20 billion (AU$38 billion). In the same week, Australia’s Labor Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese made a similar promise regarding updating the current multi-mix technology national broadband network …

Full fibre NBN back on the agenda Read More »

Power, Hope and Social Change: The Rise of the City?

A recent event addressed the fact that the world’s liberal democracies are faltering. Many of the problems that result from this are acutely felt in cities. And if we look at some of the more dramatic fallouts of the crises, we see that there are the people using their combined “people-power” to try and demand …

Power, Hope and Social Change: The Rise of the City? Read More »

Smart devices ready to flood the energy market to force prices down.

Over the last decade there have been excellent reports from the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) as well as from various industry bodies on reforming the energy market. The reports state this should be done through opening the market up to modernisation, more competition, better interoperability arrangements and better levels of transparency, all based on …

Smart devices ready to flood the energy market to force prices down. Read More »

Successful smart cities require significant ICT infrastructure

Telecommunications infrastructure plays an important role in providing the backbone for building the Smart Cities and Smart Homes which are emerging around the world. It is encouraging to see that so many governments and telecoms operators are working hard and investing heavily to deploy this underlying infrastructure which we will need for the future. Fixed-broadband …

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Australia leads the South East Asian data centre market

Australia has progressed to now be one of the four major sub-markets for data centres in Asia alongside Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. As data centres become larger and more efficient, new data centres are generally being built in centralised areas, mainly in the larger cities of Sydney and Melbourne, in order to achieve the …

Australia leads the South East Asian data centre market Read More »

Australia’s NBN makes slow progress

While fixed-line telephony traffic and revenue are declining, the mobile broadband market is growing steadily. Fixed-line broadband on the copper network is also declining as fibre and fixed-wireless broadband services become more widely available, through the NBN’s multi-technology architecture, with its emphasis on VDSL with Fibre-to-the Node (FttN). In time, much of the voice traffic …

Australia’s NBN makes slow progress Read More »

Successful smart cities require significant ICT infrastructure

Telecommunications infrastructure plays an important role in providing the backbone for building the Smart Cities and Smart Homes which are emerging around the world. It is encouraging to see that so many governments and telecoms operators are working hard and investing heavily to deploy this underlying infrastructure which we will need for the future. Fixed-broadband …

Successful smart cities require significant ICT infrastructure Read More »

Monetising solutions for the telcos

Developments in the telecommunications industry and the broader digital economy have opened up many new markets over the last few decades. Telecoms has changed from a more or less standalone, horizontally-organised industry to one that has become a key facilitator in a range of vertical markets. The keyword that is used to indicate that change …

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Fibre to the farm provides opportunities for rural Australia

Over the last decade, Australia has spent $5.5 billion on satellite and fixed wireless broadband services and another $650 million on mobile blackspots. After last year’s Regional Telecommunications Review, the Government earlier this year indicated another $220 million for mobile blackspots, money for digital inclusions projects and $60 million for a regional connectivity program. It …

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Changing the goalposts and voila here is the new NBN corporate plan

Since the Coalition Government has taken over the NBN back in 2013, we have seen the goalposts being changed nearly on an annual basis. It started soon after Malcolm Turnbull’s infamous announcement: “we will bring you the NBN for around $25 billion and deliver it in 2016”. The reality, of course, is that now in …

Changing the goalposts and voila here is the new NBN corporate plan Read More »

Do we need 5G to compete with the NBN

For as long the NBN has been under development we have heard comments that the NBN is not needed as the world will go wireless. In the early days, this was an argument from, among others, Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. However, while he didn’t often repeat this argument of fear, uncertainty and doubt, the …

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NBN Co’s gain is the retailer’s loss

However, as we have heard now for over a year, this has been at the costs of the margins of the retail service providers. NBN Co’s high wholesale prices have squeezed margins for some of them to close to 10%. Companies such as Telstra were used to margins of 30-40%. Without any wholesale infrastructure competition, …

NBN Co’s gain is the retailer’s loss Read More »