A huge week for the NBN this week, with the PM hitting the big red button to set off the fibre network trials in Armidale. But other stuff happened too:
• NBN CEO Mike Quigley has been embroiled in a corruption scandal this week, as he confrimed he was in charge at Alcatel Lucent during a time the company bribed officials in Costa Rico. There’s no evidence whatsoever that Quigley had anything to do with the bribes, but it seems like a convenient platform for NBN critics to try and decry the network. Sigh. [Australian IT]
• The NBN deal with Telstra is set to be a thorn in the NBN rollout’s side, with Quigley announcing that the company will probably miss key deadlines because Telstra’s shareholders won’t be voting on the deal until November. [Gizmodo]
• Simon Hackett from Internode outlined his major complaint with the NBN’s interconnects. It’s pretty hardcore networking nerd stuff… I’m going to trust that Hackett knows what he’s talking about here. [The Register]
• Yay! Armidale can haz NBN now! [Gizmodo]
• Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey admitted that the Libs may not be able to roll back the NBN if they win the next election. Phew! [Gizmodo]
• Farmers will be wearing cameras on their Akubras and get technical support on machinery thanks to the NBN. The University of New England is fitting a farm just outside Armidale with a heap of intelligent technologies that could transform farm life with the NBN. Awesome. [The Land]