NewSat has broken its silence on whether its planned Ka-band Jabiru satellites could provide adequate capacity to service NBN Co’s needs. Not only could the company provide it, but it could do so at a fraction of the cost that NBN Co is currently set to pay, according to NewSat CEO and founder Adrian Ballintine. [...]

Stephen Conroy’s greatest success in telecommunications, measured by his own pre-2007 election statements and aspirations, came not in April 2009—when he announced his $43b NBN Mark 2 policy—but the previous year in February 2008—paradoxically as a result of doing nothing! That was the month when Telstra requested and received a letter from Conroy’s office which [...]

Such is the lot of Australia’s fickle investors that Telstra’s share price fell yesterday even as it reported a most extraordinary result. Telstra added 958,000 mobile services in just 6 months— basically a new customer every 20 seconds. This is surely some kind of record. Firstly, it is an indication of just how prescient former [...]

The staff and directors of CommsDay publisher Decisive Publishing wish all our readers the compliments of the season. We have published our last daily PDF issue for 2011. We return to daily publication on Tuesday 10 January 2012. In the meantime, have a safe and restive Christmas break.  

It’s been a big year for the Australian telecommunications sector and the list of achievements looks impressive. Telstra has signed off on structural separation in a deal that the government believes will underpin the success of the NBN, whilst the NBN has been provided with all the legislative support it needs and is, according to [...]

The federal government and wireless carriers are poised for a final round of talks to hammer out remaining details on 15-year spectrum license renewals – aiming to bring long-awaited certainty to the industry by the end of 2011. After a year or more of separate bilateral discussions on the subject between the Commonwealth and the [...]

Australia Post is poised to launch a major new offensive in the telecoms arena – spearheaded by Maha Krishnapillai, who will join the company following his resignation from the position of Optus director for corporate and government affairs. Krishnapillai’s newly-created role will effectively see him running telco products and services for Australia Post, as the [...]

CommsDay’s revelation today that Australia Post will be making a full tilt into the telco market is likely to put a chill into many competitors, but more importantly will serve to accelerate massive changes in how value is created in the telecommunications business. Australia Post brings assets to the market that most telcos lack and [...]

As iiNet publicly confirms its A$60 million acquisition of TransACT, iiNet CEO Michael Malone sees no end in sight for the inexorable consolidation of the Australian telecoms industry – regardless of the ultimate fate of the NBN. iiNet itself, of course, has been a very visible driving force in that consolidation, with the TransACT buy [...]