Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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An interesting collection of stories with security again being a big theme. HealthEngine seems to be battling to escape trouble while we are told the NBN is fixed and all we have to do is get our money back!
It is a serious issue when we discover that the Lion Breach might block beer supplies!
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/healthengine-made-2-million-selling-patient-information-court-told
HealthEngine made $2 million from selling patient information, court told
But judge rejects company's settlement with the ACCC, saying it was less than the profits it was making
11th June 2020
By AAP
The HealthEngine booking service made nearly $2 million for selling on patient information to insurance brokers, the Federal Court of Australia has been told.
A formal decision on whether the country's largest medical booking platform is guilty of deceptive and misleading conduct is still to be handed down.
But from April 2014 to June 2018, the company allegedly provided the details of 135,000 patients — including names, phone numbers and dates of birth — to nine different health insurance brokers, generating some $1.8 million.
It also failed to publish over 70,000 negative patient reviews of GP practices and other healthcare providers as well as doctoring others to delete paragraphs containing criticism, according to the ACCC.
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Years go by and deadly chemo blunder fix still a work on paper
Brad Crouch, Health Reporter, The Advertiser
June 7, 2020 9:30pm
SA Health has finally moved to issue a new tender for a fail-safe chemotherapy dosing system as years after recommendations for swift action following the deadly underdosing blunder were handed down.
Underdosing victim Andrew Knox said he was caught in an “endless groundhog day” nightmare of promises to fix the system and noted, even with the latest move, a new system would not be in place until next year.
As revealed by The Advertiser last October, plans for a new backup computer program designed to prevent a repeat of underdosing patients were dumped after a risk assessment found the tender was not up to standard.
It followed the scandal exposed by The Advertiser which showed 10 seriously ill cancer patients were underdosed in the bungle between 2014 and 2015, and four have since died.
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NSW is unable to use Covidsafe app’s data for contact tracing
Exclusive: No Australian state has reported using data for contact tracing coronavirus cases since it was released a month ago
Tue 19 May 2020 16.31 AEST Last modified on Tue 19 May 2020 18.02 AEST
Australia’s most populous state, and the state with the most coronavirus cases, has not yet been able to use the Covidsafe app for contact tracing.
In nearly a month since it launched, more than 5.87 million Australians have downloaded and registered to use the Covidsafe contact-tracing app, which is designed to make it easier for state health officials to find close contacts in the event a user tests positive for coronavirus.
Last week, state health department contact tracers received training in how to access the data, but no states have yet reported using the data for contact tracing.
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States leave COVIDSafe app untouched amid flattened curve
Tom McIlroy Political reporter
Jun 9, 2020 – 5.34pm
The federal government's COVIDSafe app has been used to track only a tiny number of confirmed coronavirus cases, the result of Australia's success in flattening the pandemic curve.
Despite 6.2 million Australians downloading the application as part of efforts to ease coronavirus restrictions, low case numbers have seen contact tracers in most states and territories with no need to access the data.
It would be central to the fight against a second wave of the virus or where local clusters are identified.
NSW Health told The Australian Financial Review data from the app had been accessed fewer than 10 times so far, because most new confirmed cases since late May had been in hotel quarantine.
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Coronavirus: Health department confirms it has barely used Australia’s COVIDSafe app
The government’s coronavirus tracking app launched with a whole lot of hype. A new admission shows one health department has barely used it.
Samantha Maiden@samanthamaiden
news.com.au June 10, 20206:53am
It was billed as the magic key that would unlock the nation’s economy and protect the nation from a second wave of the coronavirus.
Just weeks ago, Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed the COVIDSafe app was so important he linked it directly with whether economic restrictions could be safely lifted.
“We need that tool so that we can open up the economy. And that’s why it’s so important,” he said.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/dta-swamped-with-covidsafe-app-feedback-in-first-month-549114
DTA swamped with COVIDSafe app feedback in first month
By Justin Hendry on Jun 12, 2020 12:42PM
Receives over 20,000 pieces of feedback from users and tech community.
The Digital Transformation Agency fielded 20,000 pieces of feedback from the community about the government’s COVIDSafe contract tracing app in its first month of operation, agency chief Randall Brugeaud has revealed.
Speaking at the Virtual Australian Public Sector Innovation Show this week, Brugeaud said “more than 20,000 emails and thousands of phone calls” offering feedback had been received directly following the app's launch in late April.
That may go some way towards explaining the the peak IT agency's delay in responding to enquiries from the tech community, including after the release of the source code for the application in early May.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/amazon-getting-ready-launch-gp-telehealth-service
Is Amazon getting ready to launch a GP telehealth service?
The retail giant has applied to trademark an Australian telehealth brand
12th June 2020
There is speculation Amazon may be paving the way to offer GP care after it applied to trademark its own Australian telehealth brand called Amazon Care.
Lodged with the Federal Government’s Intellectual Property agency, the application lists a range of goods and services relating to the trademark including video, telephone and email-based consults with “family doctors” and other specialists.
It goes on to mention chronic disease management, skin checks and counselling, as well as an online prescription service.
Liam Harrison, a senior health industry analyst with IBISWorld, said the temporary addition of phone and video consultation items to the MBS in March could be acting as lure for the company.
But he stressed its focus on Australian healthcare would begin with online prescriptions, which the company would see as the most lucrative business in the long-term.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/telehealth-firm-says-sorry-bungle-let-patients-see-others-consults-uk
Telehealth firm says sorry for bungle that let patients see others' consults: UK
A software error meant some users of the Babylon Health app had access to other patients' video recordings
12th June 2020
An international GP telehealth service has apologised after a software error in its app allowed some UK users to access video consultations for other patients.
Babylon Health was alerted to the problem by Rory Glover from Leeds, who accessed the app to check a prescription only to find dozens of videos in the consultation replay section.
When he clicked on one video, he realised the recording was a consultation with another patient, he told the BBC.
Mr Glover alerted the company to the breach while turning to social media to demand answers.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/opinion/app-forces-teens-face-future-sun-damage
App forces teens to face the future of sun damage
Siobhan is a reporter with Australian Doctor Group.
29th May 2020
Can teenagers be scared — or perhaps scarred — into sun-smart behaviour?
That was the question asked by dermatologists after they developed an app which alters an image of a person’s face based on their skin type and various levels of UV exposure over a period of 5-25 years.
Called Sunface, it was used by medical students when visiting 52 classrooms in Brazilian secondary schools to discuss melanoma prevention with some 1600 students.
The photo-aged selfies of 734 of those pupils were projected onto a screen for the entire class to see — saggy skin, wrinkles, potential malignant skin lesions and all.
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https://itwire.com/health/inmarsat-extends-seafarers-telemedicine-service-in-response-covid-19.html
Friday, 05 June 2020 14:22
Inmarsat extends seafarers' telemedicine service with COVID-19 response
Satellite communications provider Inmarsat has ramped up its response to COVID-19, announcing additional initiatives aimed at improving seafarer wellbeing, including the launch of a new chatcard and the wider roll-out of a COVID-19 video telemedicine call service.
Inmarsat said in a statement on Friday the new initiatives include further collaboration with the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) and maritime charities.
Inmarsat says that as the pandemic has unfolded, it has worked closely with welfare ISWAN and the major maritime charities to ensure that seafarers stay connected “without the burden of additional financial anxiety”.
“Inmarsat is now offering crew access to ISWAN’s SeafarerHelp portal and live chat function via the company’s new onboard WiFi portal, Fleet Hotspot, as well as continuing to offer free voice phone calls to the service. It also continues to provide satellite phones to Port Chaplains in ports where a number of seafarers are stranded and have no access to the internet,” Inmarsat said.
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https://rpassistants.com.au/news/new-cpd-module-to-support-pharmacist-shared-medicines-list/
New CPD module to support pharmacist shared medicines list
June 8, 2020
Media Release
8 June 2020
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) has developed a dedicated CPD module in partnership with the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), equipping pharmacists and pharmacy staff with training on clinical documentation and use of the Pharmacist Shared Medicines List (PSML).
The PSML is a new clinical document type supported by the My Health Record System and contains detailed information about medicines a patient is known to be taking.
The list includes both prescription and non-prescription medicines, including ‘over-the-counter medicines and complementary medicines such as vitamins and herbal products and can only be prepared and uploaded to a patients My Health Record by a pharmacist.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/asio-chief-hits-out-at-obstructive-tech-companies-549041
ASIO chief hits out at 'obstructive' tech companies
By Justin Hendry on Jun 9, 2020 12:56PM
Calls for greater access to encrypted data.
Australia’s spy agency chief Mike Burgess has blasted technology platform providers for refusing to let law enforcement and national security agencies gain access to their end-to-end encrypted products.
The director-general of security at the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, who stepped into the role last September after 18 months at the Australian Signals Directorate, warned that the country is less safe in the wake of COVID-19.
In an Institute of Public Administration Australia podcast, Burgess said that while private communication, such as in closed WhatsApp groups, was a “good thing” for normative society, providers should be more willing to work with law enforcement.
“The real challenge comes when you have a lawful need - so the police are investigating something or ASIO is investigating something and they’ve got a warrant and they want to get access and those providers actually refuse to actually cooperate with governments,” he said.
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ADHA
Software
Developer Community Announcement
Electronic Prescribing
Technical Framework Documents
Updated
The Australian Digital Health Agency has released an update to the technical framework information to support the implementation of electronic prescribing. This updates the technical framework documents released on 18 March 2020.
Key improvements
This
update includes changes to the Electronic Prescribing – Conformance Assessment
Scheme and the Electronic Prescribing - Participating Software Conformance
Profile documents.
Changes have been made to the Electronic Prescribing – Conformance Assessment
Scheme document to permit the co-existence of multiple conformance profiles.
Changes to the Electronic Prescribing – Participating Software Conformance
Profile v2.2 includes the following important revisions:
- Temporary relaxation of all Active Script List (ASL) requirements
- New requirements in alignment with State and Territory regulations
- Requirements revision
- Clarification notes throughout
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New research at University of Melbourne to analyze health and well-being of health practitioners
Dean Koh | 09 Jun 2020
A new research project which will look into the health of Australia’s health practitioners, aims to support the wellbeing of healthcare workers and protect patients from harm. The research is led by A/Professor Marie Bismark, a consultation liaison psychiatry registrar with Melbourne Health. She also leads a research team at the University of Melbourne.
WHY IT MATTERS
The project will explore why health practitioners in Australia have higher rates of burnout, depression, and suicide than other occupations. The research will consider a range of pressures on clinicians including extended work hours, misunderstandings of mandatory reporting, and the impact of the pandemic. A/Prof Bismark will also explore factors that support clinicians to thrive.
Previous research on clinician health has focused heavily on doctors. This research will be the first in the world to consider the health of all registered health professions, including nurses, dentists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists. The hope is that the research will lead to a toolkit of measures and resources, tailored for the Australian context, and suitable for national use.
Part of the research involves confidential interviews with nurses, doctors, and physiotherapists with up to five years of clinical experience. These interviews will help to build a better understanding of the impact of compassionate clinical leadership on the wellbeing of health practitioners.
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https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/health/heart-disease-and-stroke-research-awarded-47m-funding
Heart disease and stroke research awarded $4.7m funding
11 Jun 2020
Yolande Hutchinson
UNSW researchers are developing an app to reduce re-admission of stroke patients to hospital and an online shopping tool to reduce blood pressure.
Researchers from UNSW Sydney have been awarded more than $4.7 million in funding for three heart disease and stroke research projects.
The grants are part of $29 million for life-saving research initiatives announced by the Minister of Health, Greg Hunt, to tackle Australia’s two biggest killers – heart attacks and stroke.
This is the first round of disbursements from the government’s 10-year, $220 million investment to boost research into heart disease and stroke through the Medical Research Future Fund’s (MRFF) Cardiovascular Health Mission.
UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Professor Nicholas Fisk, welcomed the large proportion of MRFF awards under this cardiovascular mission to UNSW researchers, and the emphasis on novel translational approaches exploiting apps, big data and algorithmic technologies.
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ACCC plans new Facebook probe over Giphy Deal
The ACCC campaign against the big tech platforms is continuing, with the regulator opening an investigation into Facebook’s $US400 million Giphy acquisition for potential breaches of the competition rules.
Giphy runs a search platform to allow people to search for animated GIF pictures and Facebook plans to fold the function into its Instagram platform.
The deal signed last month is a further boost to Facebook’s market power with 50 per cent of GIFs traffic already passing through Facebook Apps.
In a statement the ACCC said it would look at whether the deal “provides Facebook with data that will strengthen its market power in any markets; provides Facebook with data about its social media and online private messaging rivals, that may lead to a substantial lessening of competition; could lead to foreclosure of Facebook’s social media and online private messaging rivals.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/telehealth-company-rejects-claims-it-offers-vending-machine-gp-care
Telehealth company rejects claims it offers 'vending machine' GP care
Medinet has written to the RACGP saying its average video consult lasts 18 minutes
9th June 2020
The company accused of offering GP consults no better than a “vending machine” has written to the RACGP to defend its business, saying its average video consult lasts 18 minutes.
Medinet was thrown into the spotlight last month when the chair of the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority took to social media to bemoan his four-minute, 48-second consult conducted via instant messages.
The Medinet doctor allegedly prescribed Shane Solomon medication but then billed for a level C consult.
While the claim was later retracted, Mr Solomon said the consult was more like a “chatbox” consult and the “equivalent to a vending machine”.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/healthdirect-goes-cloud-in-a-few-days/
Healthdirect goes cloud – in a few days
June 11, 2020
Leading telehealth provider, Healthdirect Australia and MediRecords, Australia’s fast growing cloud patient management system vendor, joined together to deliver the National Coronavirus Helpline in just a few days
When COVID-19 hit HealthDirect had a huge problem. Its call centre was immediately overwhelmed, and it was running technology that couldn’t scale. How could the group, literally within days, expand its service by adding thousands more ‘seats’ which would direct users to geo located, appropriately qualified professionals?
And how could they do this with a real time system that was coordinating and sharing data and notes across Australia in hundreds of locations, so they could respond in real time to any patterns that were emerging via use? The National Coronavirus Helpline is an integral part of the Australian Government’s response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The helpline was directed to rapidly scale-up in March 2020 to become a go-to source of truth for the public during a time of significant change and high anxiety.
The scale-up required Healthdirect Australia to quickly add hundreds more staff to the helpline, calling on call centre providers from around the country to meet demand. To achieve this, Healthdirect Australia needed a service provider agnostic call centre management platform.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/511965/2.3-billion-needed-for-health-IT.htm
$2.3 billion needed for health IT
Tuesday, 9 June 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Around $2.3 billion is needed over the next decade to address issues with DHBs’ legacy systems and invest in technologies that enable new models of care, a government report says.
The Current State Assessment of DHB assets provides a comprehensive picture of the state of New Zealand’s hospital buildings and other assets to help guide future investment decisions.
It identifies core IT applications, such as patient administration and financial management systems, as an investment priority.
The report says DHBs have “maintained their IT assets in an environment of accumulated underinvestment” and New Zealand lacks the investment levels necessary to embrace rapid changes in health IT technologies.
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https://itwire.com/security/attackers-leak-second-lot-of-toll-documents-on-dark-web.html
Saturday, 06 June 2020 11:30
Attackers leak second lot of Toll documents on dark web
The ransomware attackers who penetrated the website of the Australian logistics and transport provider Toll Group have released a second lot of documents which were exfiltrated during the attack on the company's website.
According to security sources, these documents relate to Toll's dealings with Samsung, the South Korean conglomerate, and were posted on 5 June.
There are two links, one being a text file that lists the names of the documents. The second, coming in at 4.6 gigabytes, includes the documents themselves.
Toll announced on 5 May that it had been compromised by ransomware known as Nefilim which attacks Windows systems. This was the second attack on Toll this year, with the first in February being through use of the Mailto ransomware.
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https://itwire.com/security/mybudget-lack-of-disclosure-shows-breach-law-no-use-to-public.html
Tuesday, 09 June 2020 09:00
MyBudget lack of disclosure shows breach law no use to public
ANALYSIS The Federal Government needs to take a serious look at beefing up its law on data breaches considering the way in which companies refuse to divulge whether their clients data is at risk, with a prime case being Australian money management firm MyBudget.
The company is staying silent on whether it has paid a ransom to attackers who used the Mespinoza/Pysa ransomware to take down its website and keep clients from using it for two weeks. In fact, the company is yet to list the name of the ransomware that took it down.
On its outages page, the firm says: "The investigation into the malware incident that caused the outage is ongoing. At present, there is no credible evidence that significant data was accessed or will be misused." This is misleading at best.
The next sentence reads: "Until we can totally rule this out, we are taking all cautionary measures. We’re working with cyber security experts, government agencies and law enforcement bodies to take appropriate action and to keep you updated."
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Drinks giant Lion hit by cyber attack as hackers target corporate Australia
By Ben Grubb
June 9, 2020 — 2.43pm
The Australian beverages giant behind milk brands Dairy Farmers and Pura and XXXX Gold beer has been hit by a major cyber attack that has disrupted manufacturing and knocked out its internal IT systems.
Staff at Lion, which was previously known as Lion Nathan, lost remote access on Tuesday morning as a result of the attack, which has also impacted the processing of customer orders.
Lion employs approximately 7000 people across Australia and its dairy and drinks business, which employs 2300 workers, is currently the subject of a $600 million takeover bid by Chinese dairy giant Mengniu, part-owned by Chinese state-owned food processor COFCO.
The Foreign Investment Review Board is assessing the bid after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission gave the offer the green light in February. Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will have the final say over whether the sale goes ahead.
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Lion accidentally directs milk orders to Sydney IT security consultancy
By Ry Crozier on Jun 10, 2020 12:00PM
In cyber attack mop-up mistake.
Beverage maker Lion had its Tasmanian customers try to place dairy orders with a Sydney-based cybersecurity consultancy after publishing the wrong phone number for customer service following a cyber attack.
The error was corrected by Tuesday night, but not before Cliffside Security spent the day fielding drink orders in addition to its usual sales calls.
“Today the strangest thing happened. From what I understand, a dairy company got hacked, and their systems went offline, so they updated their website with phone numbers for orders, and the last phone number is our Cliffside Security sales number (a mistake on their side),” Cliffside Security’s Director and Principal Consultant Adriano Leite said.
“So our number has been ringing the whole day, because of a hack (as usual) but now we're getting milk orders instead.”
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https://itwire.com/security/australian-drinks-maker-lion-shuts-systems-after-cyber-incident.html
Wednesday, 10 June 2020 05:51
Australian drinks maker Lion shuts systems after cyber incident
Australian drinks manufacturer Lion has been forced to take down its IT systems following what is said to be a cyber incident.
The company said in a brief note on its website that it had "taken the precaution of shutting down our IT systems, causing some disruption to our suppliers and customers".
And Lion added: "We’re working with expert advisers to address the issue. We have alerted the authorities and are working hard to minimise disruption to customers and suppliers.
"We will provide further updates when we can, and we thank our customers and suppliers for their patience."
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/fisher-paykel-appliances-struck-by-nefilim-ransomware-549102
Fisher & Paykel Appliances struck by Nefilim ransomware
By Juha Saarinen on Jun 10, 2020 2:04PM
Manufacturing and distribution impacted.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances is the latest big brand name to be struck down by ransomware, shutting down its operations while it recovered following the attack.
The whitegoods manufacturer's spokesperson Andrew Luxmoore confirmed the attack to iTnews, saying it took place early last week.
"The attempt was identified quickly and, as a result, we locked down our IT ecosystem immediately," he said.
"We are currently working with third party experts to restore our systems and our ability to take and fulfil orders, as well as introducing additional security measures."
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https://itwire.com/security/fisher-paykel-docs-released-on-dark-web-after-ransomware-attack.html
Thursday, 11 June 2020 08:26
Fisher & Paykel docs released on dark web after ransomware attack
Appliance maker Fisher & Paykel has been hit by attackers using the Nefilim ransomware, that runs only on Microsoft's Windows systems, and some files exfiltrated by them have been released on the dark web, security sources tell iTWire.
This means that the company has not agreed to pay whatever ransom was demanded by the attackers.
Nefilim, which recently attacked logistics and transportation firm Toll Holdings, is one of the growing number of ransomware that exfiltrates victims' files before encrypting them on-site.
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Fisher and Paykel, Honda join Lion on hacker hit list
By Ben Grubb
June 11, 2020 — 4.06pm
Appliance manufacturer Fisher and Paykel and car maker Honda have joined a growing list of manufacturers hit by major cyber attacks, with hackers stealing sensitive information and shutting down operations.
The latest incidents come as Lion, the company behind XXXX Gold beer and Dairy Farmers, is still trying to recover from a ransomware attack that knocked out its systems this week.
On Tuesday, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed that beverage giant Lion had been hit by a major cyber attack that disrupted its operations.
Sources with direct knowledge of the situation have since confirmed that the attack on Lion's systems used ransomware, which locks up IT systems until a sum of money is paid to hackers.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/lion-warns-of-beer-shortages-following-ransomware-attack/
Lion warns of beer shortages following ransomware attack
It said it survived COVID-19, but ransomware had other plans for the Australian beverage giant's supply operations.
By Asha Barbaschow | June 12, 2020 -- 06:43 GMT (16:43 AEST) | Topic: Security
Australian beverage giant Lion on Friday added further detail to the cyber incident it disclosed earlier this week, confirming it fell victim to a ransomware attack.
"Our investigations to date have shown that a system outage has been caused by ransomware. The ransomware targeted our computer systems. In response, we immediately shut down key systems as a precaution," it wrote.
Lion said its IT teams and cyber advisors are working around the clock to investigate the issue and are currently assessing how long the impacts would continue.
"Our focus is on bringing systems back online safely so we can resume our business as usual manufacturing, and customer services," Lion said. "This is taking some time, but it is necessary that we work through this properly."
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It's the end of the beginning for the NBN
It's not quite what Kevin Rudd envisioned back in 2009, but the NBN is finally finished. Now the government has to make back its money.
James Fernyhough Reporter
Jun 13, 2020 – 12.00am
Residents of the tranquil Scotland Island in Pittwater, just north of Sydney, will have their peace temporarily shattered next weekend by the sound of jackhammers, as workers in high-vis vests descend on the community armed with rolls of bright green cable.
At last, the National Broadband Network is arriving.
Scotland Island will be one of the last places in Australia to be connected to the NBN, ending 11 gruelling years of construction amid what was, climate wars aside, perhaps the most acrimonious political battle of the decade.
It's fitting that such an exclusive location should be among the last to get connected. The NBN was always touted as a social good as well as a savvy investment, meaning the wealthy segments of Australia have often been the last to receive the NBN.
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'No more handouts' as NBN rollout completes
James Fernyhough Reporter
Jun 12, 2020 – 4.30pm
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says the government will pour no more federal funds into the National Broadband Network, signalling NBN Co must find other channels to fund the necessary future upgrades to the network.
The Commonwealth has committed $49 billion in equity and debt to fund the initial rollout, and Mr Fletcher told AFR Weekend that figure was final.
"We've provided the funding we said we would. The NBN has got to 11.5 million premises rolled out, and it's got additional debt finance from the private sector, so it's got what it needs," he said.
"Commonwealth funding to the NBN is capped at $49 billion. That is our position, it's been our position, and it will be our position. That has not changed."
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https://itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/nbn-peak-data-demands-easing-post-covid-19,-says-nbn-co.html
Friday, 12 June 2020 02:47
NBN peak broadband data demands 'easing' post-COVID 19, says NBN Co
Peak data demand on the National Broadband Network's main wholesale access service has eased as Australians start returning to schools and workplaces, although peak throughput on the main NBN wholesale access service remains above the pre-COVID-19 baseline.
Figures from that latest Australian Broadband Data Demand report from NBN Co - the operators of the NBN - show that from Monday, 1 June to Sunday, 7 June, peak download throughput (the measure of data flowing through the NBN access network) during the busy evening period increased by 6% to 11.8 terabits per second (Tbps) on the main nbn wholesale service, compared to the last week of February (which NBN measures as its normal pre-COVID-19 baseline).
Australian Broadband Data Demand is a weekly report into the peak throughput recorded in a week during daytime business hours, early evening hours and busy evening hours.
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https://itwire.com/business-technology/drop-in-consumer-complaints-about-telcos.html
Wednesday, 10 June 2020 03:35
Drop in consumer complaints about telcos
Complaints about telco services by telecommunications consumers dropped nearly 14% in the three months of the January to March quarter this year, compared to the same quarter last year, according to the latest report from telecommunications lobby group Communications Alliance.
Communications Alliance (CA) says that for the January to March quarter 2020, the result means that, across the participants, “one service in every 1,389 services in operation during the quarter experienced an issue that resulted in a complaint being made to the TIO”.
CA’s comments are included in its most recent Complaints-in-Context report published on Wednesday, showing results for three quarterly periods since the report was expanded to capture a much larger group of Australia’s telecommunications service providers.
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Sunday, 07 June 2020 22:58
National Broadband Network connections reach 11.5 million ‘milestone’
Connections to the National Broadband National Broadband are ahead of schedule - with 11.5 million home and businesses already connected - and the Government announcing that NBN Co, the builders of the network, have already reached their 2019-20 end-of-year target.
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, Paul Fletcher, said in a statement on Sunday the build of the NBN is now 99% complete with the 30 June 2020 build milestone achieved one month ahead of schedule “notwithstanding recent bushfires, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic”.
“Since the beginning of the year, more than 1 million premises have been declared Ready to Connect and more than 600,000 homes and businesses have signed up for an NBN service,” Minister Fletcher said.
“The resilience the NBN has shown in recent months, with more people working and studying at home, underlines the network’s strength and adaptability. The NBN has cemented its place as the nation’s digital backbone for productivity, connectivity and social cohesion.
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Enjoy!
David.
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