Sydney DSLAM rollout for iiNet

iiNet said this morning that its latest rollout of Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DLAM) technology will cost AU$9.6 million over the next nine months and bring the total number of iiNet DSLAM exchanges to over 200 by the end of 2005. The deployment will focus on exchanges in the eastern states of the country. Of particular note is the fact that 86 new sites in Sydney will cover 90 percent of that city's metropolitan customers.

Greg Bader, iiNet's chief technology officer, said the rollout had a specific focus on Sydney. In addition, "the recent Ozemail acquisition will provide an even larger eastern states subscriber base which is a catalyst for ongoing DSLAM deployments in those areas," Bader said. The ISP also said that it is investing an additional AU$2 million to increase capacity in already DSLAM-enabled exchanges.

And competitor Netspace has unveiled a new range of unlimited data plans. Although the ISP's managing director Stuart Marburg claims the plans are " in response to market demand for a real unlimited offering", Netspace's release said that "the top 10 percent of customers with the highest levels of download usage will be progressively shaped when network utilisation is classed as high." Netspace said this would occur approximately 25 percent of the time.

The plans will be priced at AU$49.95 per month for 256Kbit/s speed, AU$59.95 for 512Kbit/s, AU$79.95 for 1500Kbit/s. Also, a special 512/512 (upload/download) Gamespace plan will be priced at AU$79.95 and aimed at the gaming community.

Netspace said last October that it would spend AU$500,000 on its Gamespace service, which offers a number of game servers as well as a "Game School" where customers can learn the art of online gaming in "a safe and supportive environment".