Australian telecommunications company Telstra has this week announced its intentions to significantly develop its health business. The latest addition to its portfolio of health services will come through…
Telstra’s existing customers will be asked to help provide most of the new Wi-Fi hotspots.
AAP Image/Joel Carrett
Telstra’s plans to rollout Australia’s largest Wi-Fi network over the next five years involves asking existing customers to allow part of their broadband connection to be used as hotspots. More than two…
Is your Yellow Pages destined for the recycling?
Flickr/Francis Mariani
Yellow Pages directories have been appearing on doorsteps across Australia in recent weeks. As often as not, they go straight into the recycling bin. In the world of the internet and e-commerce, the very…
Australia Post’s business is evolving, but it still has to support loss makers.
Australia Post/AAP
Who would run a former government-owned monopoly these days? In the last week, Australia Post’s Ahmed Fahour announced 900 administration jobs were to go from its Melbourne operations, while last week…
Telstra takes a bite at Optus claims over mobile phone coverage.
Flickr/Andrew Scott
Mobile coverage of two of the major telecommunications companies is in the news again after Telstra took Optus to court over an advertisement that was found to be misleading. The complaint against Optus…
Looking for fast broadband? Here, read this report.
Stefan Postles/AAP
Nobody can ever state with certainty how much it will cost or how long it will take to deliver broadband services to more than 22 million people spread out over 7.6 million square kilometres. Even more…
Former communications minister Stephen Conroy relished the opportunity to attack new NBN Co boss Ziggy Switkowski on rising costs and the state of Telstra’s copper network in the Senate hearing last week.
AAP/Lukas Coch
As Stephen Conroy interrogated the incoming NBN Co chief Ziggy Switkowski in last week’s Senate hearing into the network’s rollout, it became increasingly clear that politics is getting in the way of good…
Consumers are excited about the launch of the iPhone 5S - but the pricing game means bargains are unlikely.
AAP
Game theory is a branch of strategic decision making that tries to predict how players in any strategic game are likely to act. It can be applied in many situations and it can also help to explain what…
“Lawful interception” has been used by intelligence agencies for decades.
Craig Does Stuff
Hot on the heels of data analyst whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations about the existence of the PRISM electronic surveillance program operated by the United States’ National Security Agency since…
Exposure to even a single fibre of asbestos dust can cause significant health problems.
Image from shutterstock.com
The digital age crashed into the bronze age when the roll out of Australia’s high-speed broadband network was disrupted by the discovery of asbestos in Telstra pits in recent weeks. Workplace relations…
Regardless of which NBN policy is implemented, it will be a win-win situation for Telstra.
AAP
Many commentators have claimed that the Coalition has proposed a cheaper but backward fibre-to-the-node option compared to Labor’s top of the range fibre-to-the-premises network. However, this is not entirely…
Yesterday, the Coalition launched its blueprint for the national broadband network, which will have lower access speeds but will be cheaper to build. But is it good policy?
AAP
“The superfast broadband of the order of 100+ megabits per second (Mbps) and into the gigaspeed bracket is de rigueur for any nation purporting to be a developed and advancing economy.” – Phil Ruthven…
The Whitehaven Coal hoax showed changes to continuous disclosure guidelines to address the role of social media and trading halts are needed, but the guidelines are not without their problems.
AAP
In a fragile world and with a particularly fragile share market, Australia’s corporate regulators have seen their role in policing the area of continuous disclosure multiply. Disclosure requirements are…
Optus has exhausted its legal avenues to appeal against a decision finding it breached copyright on its TV Now service. But should the issue of technology neutrality be reviewed?
Flickr/IntelFreePress
A legal decision which forced Optus to shut down its time shifting service TV Now may eventually lead to reform of existing copyright law to cater for cloud technology. On Friday, the High Court denied…
Will ACMA’s new code of practice be enough to give Australian telcos a wake-up call?
sachman75
Does the recent announcement by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) of a new code of practice to prevent bill shock for “long-suffering telco customers”, and improve product marketing…
Information gleaned from data mining is a prized delicacy in certain circles.
Philippe Put
Telstra representatives have this week admitted to collecting data for a new internet filtering product and sending this data to the USA office of Netsweeper Inc. Netsweeper Inc, based near Toronto, Canada…
How can consumers get what they want on an NBN-enabled Australia without getting wires crossed?
NBNCO
Unless you’ve been boycotting all forms of media in the past five years, you’ll be aware that the National Broadband Network (NBN) is well and truly on its way. For some of us the NBN is already here…
After success in Europe and the US, subscription-based music streaming service, Spotify is launching in Australia. Could it be a musical saviour?
Flickr/capsun
International music provider Spotify is preparing for its launch into the Australian market later this year. As a subscription-based streaming service, the success of the Stockholm-based Spotify across…
Broadcast rights have turned two giant telcos into sporting rivals.
Judy **
Telecommunications giant Optus managed to convince the Federal Court in Sydney this week that there’s a legal blindspot in relation to its download pay-per-view service. Telstra – given its business relationship…
Telstra left the door open to its customers’ information.
topcat_angel
At approximately 1pm on Friday, a customer of Telstra BigPond – Australia’s largest internet service provider – posted on a forum that: “If you do a Google search for that number [the number for Telstra’s…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne