Construction of NBN links to more than 3.5 million premises will be either completed or under construction by mid-2015, under a fibre rollout plan announced by the Australian federal government. [ + ]

The average cost of data breaches on Australian organisations has risen for the third year in a row, reaching $2.16 million in 2011, according to a study from Symantec and the Ponemon Institute. [ + ]

Cloud computing continues to confound Australian organisations, with many IT pros still confused by the differences between public, private and hybrid clouds. But despite this confusion, a recent panel of cloud computing experts declared that more than one third of Australian organisations are considering implementing cloud within two years, and 10-20% are currently implementing some form of the technology. [ + ]

NBN Co has finalised a contract with Visionstream Australia for the construction of the remainder of the fibre-based part of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Tasmania. [ + ]

The number of users of transactional mobile banking services will shoot from 185 million in 2011 to more than 550 million in 2016, according to a new report from Juniper Research. This surge will come from a confluence of two factors: a growing user acceptance of push mobile marketing and a sharp rise in smartphone adoption. [ + ]

Telstra Business has sent warnings to its customers and issued a list of security tips following an increase in cases of hackers gaining unauthorised access to business phone systems. [ + ]

Gen-i will build and deploy the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s cloud-based identity and access management service, as part of a five-year contract announced by the company today. [ + ]

Optus today announced results of the first trial of its 700 MHz 4G network, which attained a peak download speed of 70 megabits in the field. [ + ]

Avaya has entered into an agreement to acquire Radvision, a provider of videoconferencing and telepresence technologies over IP and wireless networks. The transaction is worth approximately US$230 million. [ + ]

The Australian government’s schemes to move to a low-carbon economy ignore the potential role of ICT in reducing carbon emissions, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) warned today. [ + ]

Users of Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari are vulnerable to a new attack that lets remote attackers steal sensitive information held on private Microsoft SharePoint sites, as well as mine data from other public websites such as LinkedIn. [ + ]

Organisations must employ apps custom built for tablet computers if they are to derive value from such devices, according to a new report from analyst firm Ovum. [ + ]

A global study on mobility risks, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by content security provider Websense, has revealed that corporate mobile devices and employee-owned devices (bring-your-own-devices) are circumventing enterprise security and mobile device usage policies in Australia. [ + ]

Mobile download speeds have risen 10% in the last year, while mobile upload speeds have dropped 30%, according to a new report from analyst firm IDC. [ + ]

SingTel (aka Singapore Telecommunications), owner of Australia’s second largest telco, Optus, today announced a revamp of its organisational structure. [ + ]