Queensland launches state-owned backhaul provider
The Queensland government has launched a new state-owned backhaul provider that it hopes will provide a boost to broadband services available in regional areas.
The Queensland government has launched a new state-owned backhaul provider that it hopes will provide a boost to broadband services available in regional areas.
Network operator Vocus says that the government should consider funding carrier-neutral backhaul as part of its mobile black spot program.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is of a mind to continue to regulate the backhaul market in some parts of the country, but a draft decision released today by the ACCC would end regulation in 137 metro and 27 regional areas.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has launched a public inquiry into whether it will continue to regulate elements of the backhaul market.
The expanding Vocus Communications sharply increased revenue and profits in the first half of 2015, according to financial results released today.
Optus shares concerns about the high cost of backhaul for mobile services but is not ready to take a position on opening the NBN to mobile operators for that purpose, according to Optus chief country officer Kevin Russell.
The Coalition government will consider opening the NBN network to mobile telcos for cheaper backhaul, said MP Paul Fletcher, the parliamentary secretary to the minister for communications.
Nexten Group has upgraded 12,300km of its longhaul fibre network to support 100Gbps transmission speeds, the backhaul provider said today.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will review whether current backhaul regulations are adequate.
Nextgen Group hopes to double revenue to $600 million in five years by taking advantage of the NBN rollout and accelerating movement among businesses and government to the cloud and infrastructure-as-a-service, said Nextgen CEO Peter McGrath.
The cost of backhaul from Tasmania to the mainland of Australia for the National Broadband Network could hamper competition among retail service providers (RSP — the NBN equivalent of ISPs) in the state, several industry players say.
The NBN is not enough to level telecom competition in Australia, according to Vodafone Hutchison Australia CEO Bill Morrow. At an American Chamber of Commerce event today in Sydney, he called on government to support policies that scale back Telstra’s “regulatory favour.”
The $11 billion infrastructure sharing agreement between Telstra and the NBN Co is set to expedite the deployment of fibre broadband potentially freeing up the telco to concentrate on improving its high-speed Next G wireless network for mainstream broadband access.
Mainland Australia’s regional broadband traffic will be carried over Alcatel-Lucent’s optical fibre network as part of a $250 million initiative to link blackspot areas to major centres.
The government's $250 million splurge on backhaul may see an explosion in ADSL2+ exchanges, but the boom may be short-lived.