Enters Kiwi data centre market.
IP transit and data centre provider Vocus has acquired New Zealand-based company Maxnet for $9.5 million in a bid to enter the data centre market across the Tasman.

The acquisition gives Vocus access to a 600 square metre data centre in Auckland providing up to 30 kilowatts of power per rack, as well as a smaller, 50-rack facility in Christchurch with capability of up to four kilowatts per rack...

Hands five-year deal to Optus.
The NSW Department of Education has awarded a $15 million deal to Optus to upgrade satellite services for remote schools, TAFEs and homesteads that conduct distance education.

The five-year contract will see the amount of satellite bandwidth available to schools doubled and internet speeds up to ten times faster than at present...

AusCERT delegate urges ISPs to bolster user support.
Up to 100,000 customer modems around the world are at risk of losing their internet connection from July 9 when the FBI disables rogue DNS servers seized late last year.
The affected customer modems make up about a third of the 350,000 to 400,000 internet users believed to still have the DNSChanger malware on either their modems or Windows computers...

Using ICT to empower women.
The International Telecommunications Union has recognised Huawei chairman Sun Yafang for her contribution to digital developments in ICT "as a means of empowering women and girls".

Ms Yafang was one of three women recognised by the ITU for promoting ICT...

Puts 1.5 GHz band up for review.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is considering re-farming spectrum that underpins Telstra microwave links and radiotelecommunications services in rural Australia.

The communications regulator has commenced a review (pdf) of the 1...

AusCERT delegate warns against going 'too far'.
Kaspersy Labs co-founder Eugene Kaspersky has backed Labor Government plans to mandate retention of user telco and internet subscriber data for two years.
The Russian billionaire and security expert has previously argued against Australian plans to adopt a European cybercrime treaty that requires ISP data retention...

$1 per megabyte offer undercuts major carriers.
Pre-paid international roaming provider TravelSIM has cut its data rates for the US to $1 per megabyte while roaming over AT&T's network in the country.

The new deal undercuts current offerings from the major Australian telcos, all of which have made moves to significantly reduce their international data rates through alliances with overseas carriers or subsidies where possible...

SkyTV dismisses unfair dominance.
New Zealand's Commerce Commission is investigating contracts that tie internet service providers to pay TV incumbent SkyTV over claims that the deals block Australian providers from entering the country's IPTV market...

Incumbent lends to faster rollout but sting in the tail.
Malaysia's equivalent of the National Broadband Network is "comfortably outpacing" Australia's rollout effort but a lack of independence at the wholesale level from the country's incumbent could bite its market later, according to analyst firm Informa...

Telcos face more independent audits.
The Federal Government is considering whether to change the "risk-based" approach of auditing mobile base stations for electromagnetic emissions after a Senate committee urged action on the issue.

Calls to strengthen compliance checks on mobile sites have increased after the Australian Communications and Media Authority revealed it had audited only 474 licenses for mobile sites from telcos out of a total 18,000 base stations in the past 13 years...

Geoblock-busting service hauled offline.
Nascent New Zealand service provider Fyx has withdrawn a controversial, week-old service that allowed users to circumvent geographic restrictions on video streaming services.

Parent company Maxnet told users that it would halt the service from midnight tonight, New Zealand time, pending further legal advice on the viability of the service under New Zealand legislation...

Conroy launches Victorian facility.

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No demand now.
The former joint venture partner in the Pacific Fibre initiative has cast doubt on the viability of the project, which aims to link Australia, New Zealand and the US with a new submarine cable.
The new, 12,750-kilometre link between Sydney, Auckland and Los Angeles aims to provide an additional 5...

Identity management, application priority on the cards.
Telstra will allow customers to prioritise bandwidth for specific applications and introduce new identity management capabilities on network hardware as it improves its Next IP core network...

Service may not go without challenge.
New Zealand internet service provider Maxnet has claimed it is "in the clear" legally on plans to allow users to circumvent geographic blocks placed on popular streaming video offerings from the US and Britain...

Spin-off gains $2m venture funding.
NICTA spin-off Scalify has set its sights on games, virtual worlds and enterprise collaboration software with network middleware that promises better performance and lower costs.
The company, officially launched this week, has worked on $98,000 in funding from Commercialisation Australia since November and this week won $2 million in venture capital from Starfish Ventures...

Limits internet connectivity until 2015.
The Government has canned an $11.2 million upgrade of ICT infrastructure on Christmas Island due to a change in the project's scope.

Undisclosed ICT services, used by government agencies on the island, were scheduled to receive a connectivity boost using spare capacity on an Australian Defence Force satellite, according to Budget 2012 papers released last night...

Network harder to cancel, Budget documents reveal.
The Federal Government has revealed taxpayers would be liable for at least $1.8 billion, should the National Broadband Network project be culled in the future.

Risk statements (pdf) released with the 2012-2013 Budget overnight revealed the figure as a termination liability for the $27 billion project as at the end of March this year...

Former IIA chief expands anti-botnet initiative.
South Africa has become the second country to deploy the iCode framework, established by the Australian telecommunications industry 18 months ago to combat remove botnet infections.
Telcos that volunteered to subscribe to the iCode framework would monitor for malicious traffic and contact users to assist them to remove infections...

Competition by any other name.
ACCC commissioner Ed Willett has refuted industry suggestions that the costs of providing services over the National Broadband Network will reduce competition for retail internet services.

Amid woes of consolidation and dwindling numbers in the telco industry, Willett was defiant that the NBN will provide a platform for robust competition, pushing providers to differentiate from competitors and offer a greater variety of services...