CommsDay Live

In this week's episode we talk with:

[1:06] Vocus CEO Kevin Russell about their plans to list on the NZ Stock Exchange and a catch-up on the Australian business

[9.50] CommsDay's Simon Dux on the latest with Chorus and how telcos are impacted by the SA lockdown

[14.21] Casa Systems' director, product management (access devices) Nathan Gowdie on Whole Home Wi-Fi and its benefits for both ISPs and end users

[29:06] CommsDay's Rohan Pearce on two new digital brands hitting the market: Felix and Gomo

[33.34] Gigafy GM Chris Hawke on opportunities for the broadband operator in the emerging build-to-rent market

We have a star-studded, interview-packed edition this week.

[0.50] Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin tells us about a COVID-afflicted last half for the company and her plans for setting up a post-COVID comeback.

[8.45] Executive editor Rohan Pearce joins Grahame Lynch to discuss the Telstra restructure and its other Investor Day announcements.

[16.10] Telstra CEO Andy Penn and CFO Vicki Brady talk about the announcements at Investor Day including the TowerCo spin-off, the move into energy and the push for higher NBN margins.

[26.46] In a sponsored interview, Cisco's Daniel Hutchins brings us up to speed with converged IP transport and why this is an important inflection point for the idea.

[35.22] SingTel CEO Chua Sock Koong is retiring after 13 years in the job and three decades with the company. In this interview she tells us how COVID has impacted the group, her reflections on changes over the years and where she thinks the company's best opportunities lie in the future

This week we take a look at the US election, the latest Canberra NBN hearing and big developments in the MVNO Market

[1:05} We talk with CommsDay chief editor Simon Dux about Optus' takeover of Amaysim, the launch of the new GoMo band and calls from Commpete for regulatory intervention in the MVNO market.  Simon also talks about the issues which private LTE operators face in gaining licensed spectrum.

[5:15] Executive editor Rohan Pearce takes a look back at this week's NBN parliamentary hearing where they discussed their preparations for the next bushfire season as well as their mmWave trials. We also discuss NBN's acquisition of its business satellite services providers.

[10:25] In an extended chat, I discuss the US election with renown NY telecom analyst Dave Burstein. We canvass what a Biden win might mean for the pushback on China's role in the global telecom supply chain as well as what it will mean for the net neutrality debate. And we then move on to take a look at America's 5G market, what's happening with the user case and handset prices. It's a great discussion across a wide array of topics and worth a listen.

 

In this special edition of CommsDay Live we recap the CommsDay Summit this week which featured 30 speakers and attracted 300 delegates in person at the Fullerton Hotel, Sydney and online via a video stream.

[1.25] We hear from communications minister Paul Fletcher who vigorously defends the NBN multi technology mix and the financial prudence behind its new $4.5b network upgrade

[8.52] Shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland disagreed and provided her explanation as to why she thinks NBN Co is on the wrong path

[12.55] Telstra CFO Vicki Brady warned that the economics of the fixed broadband market are unsustainable and called for NBN pricing relief

[16.11] Vocus GM Government and Special Projects Michael Ackland said that the coming arrival of LEOsats will hit the industry before it knows it

[19.58] CommsDay chief editor Simon Dux discusses Ericsson's estimates of 5G uptake, what Optus had to say on 5G and Telstra's release of its latest Digital Inclusion Index

[25.00] CommsDay executive editor Rohan Pearce discusses ACMA's call at the Summit for an end to co-regulation and a licensing regime for service providers, what TPG Telecom plans for 5G and what MNF thinks can be improved about the numbering regime.

The big news of the week was a raft of new pricing and product announcements from NBN Co.

{01:40} NBN Co chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb talks us through the Focus on Fast and other initiatives announced to RSPs on Wednesday and answers our questions

{16:20} Grahame Lynch looks at RSP reaction

{18:20} CommsDay exec editor Rohan Pearce looks at Mobile Blackspots Round 5A and Gig 10 Adelaide's latest milestone

{22.30} CommsDay chief editor SImon Dux wraps up Telstra Vantage and takes a look at a Gold Coast community which wants fibre, not satellite

[28.30} Vy Tran unveils the three winners of our podcast review competition!

It was a big news week and we cover lots of territory from leosats to NBN to IPOs in this episode.

 

In this edition:

 

• [1:02] We speak with Aussie Broadband MD Phil Britt about the stunning success of his new IPO and the week early listing of share trading on the ASX
• [6.44] A China company is proposing a massive 1,300 leosat constellation to take on Starlink, OneWeb and more
• [13.10] We speak with CommsDay chief editor Simon Dux on the bidding war for OptiComm, musings by Telstra on executive pay and Optus' latest 5G initiative
• [19.35] We speak with CommsDay executive editor Rohan Pearce on trends in MVNOs and NBN Co's latest efforts to boost users up the speed tier chain

We talk with CommsDay editors Simon Dux and Rohan Pearce about the telco impacts of the federal budget, AirTrunk's move into Japan, telco vulnerabilities to traffic hijacking and much much more in this special instant coffee episode!

This week I take a look at Telstra's extensive raft of enterprise and residential service announcements as well as a fascinating speech by Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin where she poses the question over whether OTTs should help out with broadband investment.

In this episode:

• [0:36] I talk to Sanjay Nayak of Telstra about their new enterprise proposition called Adaptive Networks
• [9:30] Rohan Pearce of CommsDay discusses Telstra's residential announcements
• [13.20] We listen to some highlights from Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin's speech where she discussed digital inclusion and the need for OTTs to support network investments
• [17:01] We discuss this speech and a new Gold Coast fibre network with Simon Dux of CommsDay
• [20.18] CommsDay Summit is back on October 26/27 and we discuss the return to physical conferencing with Veronica Kennedy-Good of Mindshare

This week we deep dive into the $4.5b investment in upgrading NBN's residential and business networks with more fibre.

In this episode we hear from:

• [1.44] NBN CEO Stephen Rue explaining the detail of the GPON upgrade to half the FTTN footprint and the expansion of the business fibre plan
• [6.25] Communications minister Paul Fletcher who explains to me the reasoning behind the network upgrade and why now and not before or later
• [11.02] CommsDay editor Rohan Pearce who discusses the financials behind the plan
• [17.37] CommsDay chief editor Simon Dux who spoke with the major RSPs this week and garnered their reactions
• [24.55] and I give my own take on what it all means in terms of broadband demand and willingness to pay

Wondering what are the potentially transformative effects of subsea cables on the Sunshine Coast? Want to know more about the heavy-duty wireless broadband plans that are challenging NBN plans?

In this episode:

• [7:10] I interview CEO Russ Matulich of RTI Cables on the benefits it will have on Australia, above and beyond what the Sunshine Coast landing will have achieved over the next 5 years and how IBC to Darwin might do the same there. 

 

• [25:52] Tangerine Telecom CEO Andrew Branson reveals the company's challenger to NBN plans - its heavy-duty wireless broadband plans.

 

• CommsDay editor Simon Dux rounds up the discussion on 60GHz wireless and 5G ecosystems.