Telstra today signed the Definitive Agreements with NBN Co and the government covering its participation in the rollout of the National Broadband Network. It’s a complex deal, with the details of key documents still hidden thanks to confidentiality.
Articles by Stilgherrian 
About Stilgherrian
Opinionated writer, broadcaster & consultant about digital things, based in Sydney. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
Forget Anonymous, LulzSec, the real bad guys are in your bank accounts
Tthe real threat is the continuing and increasingly professional war on bank customers.
The Weiner show: we have no prick of conscience
Anthony Weiner’s underwear gets as much media attention as Syria’s entire civil uprising. I despair for humanity.
Hywood on Fairfax …expectation, hoping, wishing …
Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood faced a 40-minute interrogation yesterday. As the relatively new CEO of Fairfax, he’s a good performer. Hats off. But there’s an anomaly in his message that just can’t be ignored.
Santorum’s presidential hopes face a sticky problem
Rick Santorum is running for president? Hah! The religious right of the Republicans might reckon they’ve found their man in this confrontationist conservative former senator from Pennsylvania, but did they check Google?
Conroy’s blueprint for a digital economy … that doesn’t need an NBN
The National Digital Economy Strategy positions Australia as a “leading digital economy” by 2020. Or is it “Conroy’s Digital Economy Con”? Either way it doesn’t need a National Broadband Network.
Political tweets eclipse blogs, but parties still don’t get it
Social media including blogs and, especially, Twitter, offer unprecedented opportunities for politicians, but take-up remains low because party machines still see it as a threat.
Facebook for under-13s? Who’s kidding whom here?
If you reckon under-13s shouldn’t be interacting online, then you’re an idiot. What you’re really saying is that you want to destroy our children’s ability to cope with life.
IT: ritual shenanigans, but hey, this is government
Just be aware that all of this could be changed in an instant, budget process or not, if a minister gets on a plane with the Ranga-in-Chief with a few numbers scribbled on the back of an envelope.
Tired Microsoft delivers solid profits, for now
Microsoft’s online services have now clocked up 21 consecutive loss-making quarters.
Apple’s answer to Android: confidence … and shiny big numbers
Apple’s quarterly earnings call is a curious ritual. The raw facts are much the same each time. Record revenue and profits. Solid growth. iPhone and now iPad sales astounding. If only they could build enough of them.
The ‘hysteria’ around NBN cost blowouts
So far April hasn’t been a great month for the National Broadband Network. But communications minister Stephen Conroy isn’t worried — he says it’s all “hysteria”.
Iranian hackers prove internet security is rubbish
Hackers presumed to be from Iran compromised internet security earlier this month, but it’s not a meltdown, as one analysis put it.
‘Arrogant’ Apple faces copyright suit over iPhone app content
Apple is back in the Federal Court tomorrow, facing a copyright infringement claim from Australian TV production company Jigsaw Entertainment. The precedent could be significant.
Apple: saving old media, or just making them its bitch?
“Media is dying”, was the call. Now there’s a new one: grab an iPad and bend over for Apple. Frustration with Steve Jobs’ digital powerhouse is growing.
How Al Jazeera leads the world in social media for news reporting
Al Jazeera’s reporting from Egypt’s revolution and now the uprising in Libya has been transformed by the use of social media and social networking tools.
Journo shield law covers bloggers, independent media
New shield laws protecting Australian journalists’ confidential sources now also cover independent media and even bloggers and “citizen journalists”, thanks to minor but critical amendments by The Greens.
Build the NBN, but be careful of the detail: Optus boss
Optus’ CEO is frustrated by the debate around the NBN. The telecommunications industry faces a “critical period”, he says, but the discussion is little more than a polarised argument about whether to build it.
AFACT versus iiNet appeal decision resolves nothing
Perhaps it’s time the movie industry paid attention to what happened with the music industry.
WikiLeaks isn’t cyber war, but maybe it’s piracy
The consensus is in. Stuxnet, the malicious software that inflicted physical damage on Iran’s nuclear program, is cyber war. But China’s attacks on Google a year ago and the whole WikiLeaks thing are not. WikiLeaks, in fact, is more like piracy.
Egypt and the NBN: the internet, it’s made of people
Egypt’s recent internet shut-down and Australia’s NBN have one thing in common: ultimately their success or failure depended — or will depend — not on technology but on people, a US telecommunications policy advocate says.
Hosing down the hype on wireless internet technology
There are two reasons the opposition is such a fan of wireless broadband. One is political: fibre equals National Broadband Network equals Labor equals something to destroy. The other is that the Liberals are being sucked in by the wireless vendors’ glossy brochures.
Microsoft’s record revenue, but for how long?
Microsoft announced record second-quarter revenues of $19.95 billion overnight.
Google kids have grown up, but where will they take the firm?
“Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!” tweeted Google CEO Eric Schmidt early this morning Australian time as the company announced that Larry Page would take over in April. So without a chaperone, what now for the Google kids in charge?
Forget Steve Jobs, Apple’s rolling in cash
Steve Jobs disappears and Apple’s share price drops. But then the company announces its biggest problem is it can’t move iPhones fast enough, and everything looks rosy again.
