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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The big news this week has been the extension of telehealth payments for six months (along with some other goodies) and a clear indication that the Health Minister plans to make the changes permanent. I hope there is lots of work looking at quality and safety of all this going on! It might be a giant step backwards long term or it may not – right now who knows!
Otherwise another few items from the ADHA and some commercial announcements to be aware of!
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Extension great, but make telehealth permanent
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt’s welcome extension of telehealth for six months is one step — the more important one is working out how the measure can be made a permanent fixture.
The myriad telehealth benefits to patients during the pandemic are known by Hunt to be the platform for a revolution in healthcare that should ensure its continuity after March.
Convenience, safety and efficiency are just springboards to the wider digital health revolution. The immediate problem is cost, because during the pandemic 10.5 million patients have undertaken 30.5 million consultations — all bulk-billed on Medicare.
The principle of universal healthcare can’t be touched, so it’s a matter of working through ways to minimise the downsides including potential fraud.
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http://medicalrepublic.com.au/telehealth-item-numbers-extended-bulk-bill-requirements-dropped/34628
18 September 2020
Telehealth item numbers extended, bulk-bill requirements dropped
Political RACGP Telehealth Telehealth Uncategorized
Bulk-billed telehealth has been thrown a six-month life line, with federal Health Minister Greg Hunt announcing the Medicare item numbers will continue past their original 30 September deadline.
This week’s announcement will see all bulk-billed phone and video consults continue in their current format, until 31 March 2021.
In another welcome measure, the requirement for GPs to bulk-bill many segments of the population – including the young, the old, the chronically ill, people with COVID-19 and parents of infants – has been dropped, according to RACGP acting president, Associate Professor Ayman Shenouda.
Those requirements were widely seen as unfair as they had only applied to GPs, not to other specialists.
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Coronavirus: Subsidised telehealth to get a $2bn boost
Australians will receive Medicare-subsidised telehealth services and home medicine deliveries for another six months under a $2bn COVID-19 package, taking the Morrison government’s health response spend to more than $16.5bn since March.
Scott Morrison’s pre-budget health boost will also support extra personal protective equipment for the National Medical Stockpile, 148 GP-led respiratory clinics, free COVID-19 pathology tests and extra funding for hospitals.
The telehealth extension, which will run until March 31, provides Australians access to care in their homes from GPs, nurses, midwives and mental health professionals.
The Australian this week revealed health experts were pressuring the government to extend bulk-billed telehealth services due to expire on September 30.
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Telehealth extended in $2b boost to coronavirus health measures
By Katina Curtis, Dana McCauley and Latika Bourke
September 17, 2020 — 10.30pm
Australians wanting to consult their doctor via phone or video call will continue to get access to subsidised telehealth until March in a $2 billion extension of coronavirus measures.
Other health initiatives including free coronavirus tests, backing for 148 GP-led respiratory clinics and home medicine deliveries are also being extended, as is a deal with state governments and private hospitals to free up beds when required. The 24-hour National Coronavirus Helpline will continue to operate too.
Nearly 10.6 million Australians have sought more than 30.5 million medical consultations with GPs, nurses, midwives and allied health and mental health services since telehealth was added to Medicare subsidies at the end of March.
News of the extension came as state and territory leaders braced for a frank assessment of their hotel quarantine arrangements at Friday's national cabinet meeting and after Prime Minister Scott Morrison boosted the number of stranded Australians allowed home each week from 4000 to nearly 6000.
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Telehealth consultations extended with extra $2b for Medicare
Phillip Coorey Political editor
Sep 17, 2020 – 10.30pm
The federal government has tipped another $2 billion into Medicare so people can continue to see their doctor over the internet for another six months.
The top-up for telehealth and other related services, such as free COVID-19 pathology tests, will be unveiled on Friday at a meeting of national cabinet at which discussions on borders will continue.
While progress is expected on the international front, next to none is anticipated on the vexed issue of state border closures.
Scott Morrison noted on Thursday that with restrictions being eased in regional Victoria, it was "likely" the NSW-Victoria border would open before the Queensland-NSW border which is expected to stay shut until the October 31 Queensland state election.
The states and Commonwealth are yet to agree on a national definition of what constitutes a coronavirus hotspot so states can replace the blunt instrument of border closures with a more nuanced approach with fewer unintended consequences.
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10 million Aussie patients have taken up COVID-19 Medicare telehealth services
Approximately 28 million telehealth services have been provided in response to the global pandemic.
By Asha Barbaschow | September 17, 2020 -- 07:47 GMT (17:47 AEST) | Topic: Innovation
In the period spanning 13 March to 8 September 2020, 283 new temporary Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) telehealth and telephone services were established in response to COVID-19.
These services, the Department of Health said, mirrored existing face to face services.
"These items were added to assist in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting the vulnerable, while maintaining patient access to essential health services," the department said in a submission [PDF] to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network.
Since implementation to 31 August 2020, Health said approximately 28 million COVID-19 telehealth services have been provided to 10.15 million patients by 76,400 providers.
It said of these services, approximately 23 million -- or 83% -- were provided by GPs, 3 million were provided by specialists, and 1 million were conducted by allied health providers.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/not-all-patients-telehealth-new-survey-suggests
Not all patients like telehealth, new survey suggests
As GPs wait to hear the fate of telehealth Medicare items, a patient survey suggests its not always the best option for those with depression or anxiety
16th September 2020
Patients say consults via phone or video are on par with seeing their doctor face-to-face except when it comes to mental health.
A survey of 1369 adults found 62% of the 600 patients who had used telehealth amid the COVID-19 pandemic rated it 'just as good' or 'better' than in-clinic care.
But 205 patients with depression and anxiety and those less willing to take an active role in managing their healthcare rated telehealth as a 'poor'.
“Our findings are similar to previous research on telehealth and mental health, which is concerning as negative experiences of telehealth may result in no mental healthcare for patients at all, if face-to-face services are unavailable,” the Sydney University researchers wrote in medRxiv.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/exclusive-mandatory-telehealth-bulkbilling-be-ditched
Exclusive: Mandatory telehealth bulk-billing to be ditched
But the Federal Government is expected to scale back the enhanced bulk-billing incentives
17th September 2020
By Paul Smith
The Federal Government is expected to ditch the mandatory bulk-billing requirements for telehealth when it announces that the temporary telehealth items will continue for another six months.
The items, introduced in March as part of the response to the COVID pandemic, expire on 30 September.
It was widely expected the government would offer its long-term plan for funding telehealth.
However, with the COVID-19 threat still running, it is understood it will extend the current items for another six months.
An announcement is expected soon.
But Australian Doctor understands one big change is that the current requirement for GPs to bulk-bill the items will go.
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http://medicalrepublic.com.au/tmi-privacy-concerns-over-escripts/34588
18 September 2020
TMI? Privacy concerns over eScripts
Drugs Pharmacy Technology Telehealth
Posted by Francine Crimmins
The RACGP has expressed concerns over the Active Script List, which could allow any participating pharmacy to see medications a patient may want to keep discreet.
The purpose of the ASL is for patients to be able to have their medicines dispensed at a pharmacy, without the need to present their paper or digital script.
The system will use the existing eScripts token model to enable consenting patients to have their digital scripts show up on a single list displaying all active scripts waiting to be dispensed.
But a recent meeting of the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) and key stakeholders some including the RACGP, AMA, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has revealed some conflict about how the technology should populate patient medications.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/service-nsws-in-app-contact-tracing-tool-goes-live-statewide-553244
Service NSW's in-app contact tracing tool goes live statewide
By Justin Hendry on Sep 14, 2020 12:25PM
After month-long trial.
Service NSW’s mobile app can now be used for contact tracing statewide after the government pressed go on a solution that allows users to check in to venues using QR codes.
The COVID Safe check-in tool went live over the weekend following a month-long trial at in Dubbo, as well as at several Merivale-owned venues in Sydney.
It lets Service NSW customers with the app installed check in to a participating venue by scanning a QR code, removing the need for third-party sign-in solutions.
The app automatically captures the date and time of a visit, and securely stores the information on a Service NSW database for 28 days before being deleted.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/govt-elevates-consent-in-proposed-public-data-sharing-laws-553424
Govt elevates consent in proposed public data sharing laws
By Justin Hendry on Sep 17, 2020 6:47AM
Policy position altered after further consultation.
Federal government agencies will need to seek consent before releasing personal information to other governments and the private sector if it feasible to do so under proposed public sector data sharing laws.
An exposure draft of the Data Availability and Transparency Bill, published this week, reveals a change to the Office of National Data Commissioner (ONDC) policy position that embeds consent within one of five data sharing principles.
The ONDC, which falls under the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, had previously said that consent should only be encouraged, as a consent-based model for data sharing “could create biases in data”.
It had instead proposed placing the onus on agencies and accredited users of the data by suggesting that “consent may be built into the application of the data sharing principles ... if it is practical and feasible”.
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https://www.themandarin.com.au/139813-consultation-on-aps-data-sharing-bill-open/
Consultation on APS data sharing bill open
Wednesday September 16, 2020
The federal government has released a legislative package outlining its proposed data-sharing laws, in a bid to improve the delivery of public services.
Under the draft Data Availability and Transparency Bill, released for public feedback on Monday, data will be allowed to be shared for the purposes of delivering government services, informing government policy and programs, and research and development.
The consultation paper notes that government agencies have often taken a “black-and-white approach” to data access and use by keeping some data “closed” in-house, and making non-sensitive data “open” to the public.
“Reforms to data sharing can enable data to be as open as possible and as closed as necessary,” it states.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/hearing-australia-strikes-digital-transformation-deal-with-dxc/
Hearing Australia strikes digital transformation deal with DXC
There are plans to replace the organisation's Oracle-dominated legacy IT system.
By Aimee Chanthadavong | September 17, 2020 -- 23:00 GMT (09:00 AEST) | Topic: Digital Transformation
Hearing Australia has struck a deal with DXC Technology to deliver a systems modernisation program over the next 12-18 months.
Under the program, DXC will be responsible for replacing Hearing Australia's 20-year-old bespoke Oracle-based core clinical practice management system, Oracle E-Business finance system, and its customer relationship management system.
Hearing Australia CIO Mike Brett said the program will help the organisation simplify business processes.
"The platform we're on didn't service our clinicians … we want to give them a nice, clean, easy to use, intuitive system, but also to build a platform that can [enable them to] work with clients in a digital manner, if they chose to," he told ZDNet.
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MedAdvisor shares up after e-prescribing green light
By Emma Koehn
Prescription management startup MedAdvisor has been given federal government approval to launch its e-prescribing platform, allowing users to store digital “tokens” for prescription meds and get their pharmacies to fill them remotely.
The government fast-tracked plans to enable digital prescriptions in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Australian Digital Health Agency has approved MedAdvisor’s product, which allows doctors to send tokens to their app, for patients to order and have home-delivered without having to enter pharmacies.
The company says this information is stored together securely, “much like an airline ticket” in a digital wallet. Chief executive Robert Read said the product would provide consumers with “convenience, access and choice”.
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https://www.innovationaus.com/another-2m-spent-on-covidsafe-app/
Another $2m spent on COVIDSafe app
Denham Sadler
Senior Reporter
15 September 2020
The amount of government money provided to outside companies for development and maintenance work on the COVIDSafe contact tracing app has nearly doubled to $5 million, with new contracts worth more than $2 million made public this week.
Three new contracts posted to AusTender this week worth $2.3 million have been awarded by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) to two AWS tech consultants. This brings the total cost of COVIDSafe in terms of private contracts to nearly $5 million.
Shine Solutions, which has worked with the DTA since the initial stages of developing COVIDSafe, has won a contract amendment for this work worth $517,000. This brings the total value of its contract, which runs for six months from 24 April to 9 October, to $792,000.
The same company was then awarded a new contract for “ongoing development and enhancements of government application” worth $777,700. The new chunk of work runs for six months from 10 August to 3 February next year.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/practice/app-review-quit-vaping-designed-exvaper
App Review: Quit Vaping - designed by an ex-vaper
The app reminds patients of their reason for quitting e-cigarettes
18th September 2020
This is not the place to debate the potential role of vaping as a health intervention for smoking cessation.
It’s just necessary to mention that context before noting an interesting app called Quit Vaping, designed by an ex-vaper and app developer from California.
The app’s functions are recognisible from smoking cessation apps but tailored for e-cigarette users.
The app counts the days since the user last used an e-cigarette and asks users to explain why they want to quit — and constantly reminds them of this reason.
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September 18, 2020 12:12 pm AEST
Supporting improved healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples
Media release: Supporting improved healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can trial a new tool to help them manage their healthcare with the launch of a pilot program in Perth of the GoShare digital platform which has supported over 1000 patients so far.
Launched by Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt MP, the pilot program enables GPs, nurses and other clinicians at St John of God Midland Public Hospital in Perth to prescribe a tailored information pack for patients.
The electronic packs may include video-based patient stories, fact sheets, apps and tools on a range of health and wellness topics. They are prepared and adapted according to the patient’s health literacy levels and are being sent by email or text to improve their integrated care and chronic disease self-management.
The pilot program has been approved by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service and is being run as a partnership between St John of God Health Care, a not-for-profit private healthcare organisation, the Australian Digital Health Agency and Healthily, an Australian health-tech company specialising in patient education.
Minister Wyatt welcomed this initiative that will support improved healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples.
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Tuesday, 15 September 2020 00:50
Digital Health Agency sets out roadmap for digital health skills and training plan
Australia’s Digital Health Agency has released a national digital health skills and training plan designed to help the Australian health workforce use technology and further drive the digital transformation of health services to meet community demand.
Commenting on the release of the Digital Health Agency’s plan on Monday, the Minister for Health ,Greg Hunt, said that as with every other sector, “adoption of technology is critical for the healthcare system” and the Roadmap sets out how the Australian health workforce of more than 767,000 registered healthcare providers can be transformed over the next decade.
Minister Hunt said the development of the National Digital Health Workforce and Education Roadmap acknowledges people are the health sector’s most valuable asset and “that we need to shape education and training to meet their needs and to support the provision of the best care possible to patients”.
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Digital health workforce roadmap released
Wednesday, 16 September, 2020
A national digital health skills and training roadmap has been released to help the Australian health workforce use technology and further drive the digital transformation of health services to meet community demand. The adoption of technology is critical for the healthcare system, with the roadmap outlining how the Australian workforce of more than 767,000 registered healthcare providers can be transformed over the next decade.
The development of the National Digital Health Workforce and Education Roadmap acknowledges that people are the health sector’s most valuable asset, and that shaping education and training to meet their needs will support the provision of the best care possible to patients. The government has invested in a range of areas, including workforce training, incentives to providers and support for telehealth, to expand the use of digital health.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of these systems to ensure the provision of quality patient care during an emergency. Between 13 March and 9 September 2020, 29.6 million Medicare-eligible telehealth services were delivered to 10.4 million patients, resulting in $1.52 billion paid in Medicare benefits.
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Roadmap to accelerate shift to interoperable digital health system
Tuesday, 15 September 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
A new Interoperability roadmap
outlines how to accelerate the shift to a, “fully interoperable digital health
ecosystem that enriches the experience for consumers and the health and
disability workforce through better connectedness and use of information”.
Published by The Health Information Standards Organisation, the roadmap
identifies four themes and each section details milestones to hit over the next
two years.
The foreword from deputy director general data and digital Shayne Hunter says
interoperability is a key part of the Ministry’s digital health strategic framework
and HiSO will set the standards needed and promote their adoption.
“The Ministry will look at the barriers and settings, including incentives,
that will drive alignment across the health and disability system to the
interoperability requirements outlined in this roadmap, as well other parts of
government such as social and education services,” Hunter says.
The roadmap says some of the forecast change is in scope for the planned national Health Information Platform (nHIP) ecosystem, with its own investment and commercial
frameworks, while other parts will be delivered separately.
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China's social media warfare database lists key Australians
Angus Grigg National affairs correspondent
Sep 14, 2020 – 4.55am
Key Points
- The Overseas Key Individuals Database ascribes a numerical ranking to each person.
- The database covers more than 2.4 million people globally including 35,000 Australians.
- It was compiled by Shenzhen firm Zhenhua Data, which lists the Communist Party among its main clients.
- Zhenhua also claims to offer propaganda weapons such as social media disinformation.
- Zhenhua says the aim is to transfer conflict on social media into the "real environment".
A Chinese military contractor that boasts of spreading disinformation and promoting conflict has compiled profiles on more than 35,000 Australians from Prime Minister Scott Morrison to billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes as part of a giant global database targeting influential figures.
The leaked database, revealed by The Australian Financial Review, was compiled by Shenzhen firm Zhenhua Data, which lists the People's Liberation Army and Communist Party among its main clients.
The company talks of waging "hybrid warfare" and manipulating reality via social media and views its mission as using big data for the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation".
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For China, everyone's an enemy unless proven otherwise
Angus Grigg National affairs correspondent
Sep 14, 2020 – 4.55am
If you trust no one, you will collect intelligence on everyone. This is the starting point for understanding the Overseas Key Individuals Database (OKIDB), according to a serving intelligence officer with experience operating in China.
"Everyone is considered a potential enemy unless they prove they are friends," said the person, who asked not to be named.
China has mobilised this paranoia at home to create a giant surveillance state and those same principles look to have been used by Zhenhua Data when compiling the OKIDB and the broader set of databases known as the Internet Big Data Military Intelligence System.
Zhenhua refers to its broader set of databases as the Internet Big Data Military Intelligence System.
The idea is to collect millions of data points on people in key areas, from a wide variety of sources, as it could prove useful one day.
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https://www.crn.com.au/news/hpe-wins-24-million-nsw-health-deal-553400
HPE wins $24 million NSW Health deal
By Staff Writers on Sep 16, 2020 12:21PM
Hewlett Packard Enterprise will help to provide private cloud services for NSW Health over the next three years in a $24 million deal with the state government.
According to the NSW Government’s etendering portal, the government will commit a minimum of $11.1 million to the contract over three years, with an additional $12.8 million allocated for products and services consumed “over and above the minimum commitment (in accordance with the agreed Project Change Request process) at the discretion of eHealth NSW”.
An HPE spokesperson said the deal would have the vendor work alongside VMware and NTT to help advance New South Wales’ eHealth strategy, a ten-year program of investments to bring about key digital health goals for NSW.
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17 Sep 2020 10:52 AM AEST
PKS signs additional renewal agreement with Healthscope
- PKS’ wholly owned subsidiary Pavilion Health signs renewal agreement with Healthscope to continue the use of SaaS application, PICQ®
- Renewal agreement continues Healthscope’s use of PICQ® to measure the accuracy and consistency of the classification of patient-level health data for nearly 700,000 admissions across their 43 hospitals
- This agreement follows the recently announced renewal for the company’s RISQTM product
Pacific Knowledge Systems Limited (ASX: PKS) (“PKS” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary Pavilion Health has signed a significant strategic Software License renewal agreement for its PICQ® product with Healthscope. The value of the contract is between $140,000 and $160,000 per annum.
This agreement continues Healthscope’s use of Pavilion Health’s PICQ® (Performance Indicators of Coding Quality) product which measures the accuracy and consistency of the classification of patient-level health data.
Healthscope recently signed a significant renewal agreement for Pavilion Health’s RISQTM (Relative Indicators of Safety and Quality) product, which tracks and measures the performance of clinical quality and safety for nearly 700,000 admissions across their 43 hospitals, enabling efficient and effective clinical improvements and increasing transparency and accountability.
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Wednesday, 16 September 2020 00:01
Genomics leaders collaborate to create Australia’s first national Covid-19 tracking system
Australia’s Communicable Disease Genomics Network (CDGN) and American biotech company Illumina are collaborating to track COVID-19 using next-generation genomic sequencing technology, which enables real-time data sharing and integration to better understand the transmission and spread of the virus.
Illumina said in a statement on Tuesday that Australian public health laboratories will aim to sequence the virus genomes of all positive COVID-19 tests in Australia and track COVID-19 using genomics across the country, rather than state by state, under a “ground-breaking initiative spearheaded by Australia’s public health laboratory organisations and leading industry partners”.
Illumina announced that the Australian Government has provided a $3.3 million Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grant through The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney’s School of Medical Sciences.
As part of the research project, Illumina has further contributed more than $2 million worth of its genomic sequencing systems and related consumables.
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Addressing Australia’s digital health challenges in a post COVID-19 world
Roy Chiang | 15 Sep 2020
In this eighth episode of HIMSS Australia Digital Dialogue Series hosted by Tim Kelsey Senior Vice President of HIMSS Analytics International and guest speakers- Steve Hambleton (Deputy Chair of the Primary Healthcare Reform Steering Committee and Adjunct Professor), Martin Bowles AO PSM (National Chief Executive Officer, Cavalry Health Care), Dr Louise Schaper (Chief Executive, Australasian Institute of Digital Health) and Prof Mary Foley (Managing Director, Telstra Health) share more about the implications which COVID-19 has had on digital health as well as the obstacles encountered whilst implementing telehealth across Australia.
Digital Challenges Faced by Australia during this pandemic
Healthcare in Australia, as compared to other industries has taken a much longer time to digitalize. Hambleton referred to this phenomenon as “clinical inertia” within Australia and added that, “we certainly get things set up things in a way which we like to practice and it is very difficult to move from there unless there is a burning platform.”
As such, there is a need to deduce what the various drivers are in order to remove this inertia. This includes funding which is currently lacking in the healthcare industry in Australia as well as the ease of access and usability of new technology. Healthcare providers often have to rely on software providers to make it seamless and ease their transition into telehealth.
In addition, in order to reap the best possible results from telehealth, there is a need for video conferencing between patients and healthcare providers. However, majority of such telehealth interactions are over the telephone and this results in connections between the parties which are not as rich a communication vehicle as compared to video. There is also a need to make such digital opportunities accessible and user-friendly for the elderly in Australia.
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Scores of WA sex assault victims will never be heard after lost emails were deleted, WA Police confirms
By Rachael Dexter
September 14, 2020 — 8.19am
At least two years of emails sent to an address set up for victims of sexual assault to reach Western Australian police have been permanently deleted, the force has confirmed.
In late July, an investigation by WAtoday revealed anyone who attempted to report a sexual crime between February 2016 and March 2018 via an email listed on the WA Police website were sending highly sensitive reports to a ghost address not monitored by police.
The administrative bungle was brought to light by the experience of one sexual assault victim, 51-year-old Perth woman Melissa Callanan, who tried to report her story to police multiple times via the defunct email.
Ms Callanan eventually identified the error, but was lied to by police who told her the email address on the website had always been correct and that she must have found it elsewhere. This line was repeated to her when she escalated the complaint to WA Police Minister Michelle Roberts.
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Pepperstone hit in 'sophisticated and multifaceted' cyber attack
James Frost Financial services writer
Sep 16, 2020 – 11.40am
Melbourne-based global derivatives broker Pepperstone has been hit by cybercriminals for a second time this year with the personal data of an as-yet-unknown number of customers compromised.
Pepperstone first discovered it was the subject of an attack on July 22 after hackers targeted a third-party service provider and stole passwords.
"The cyber criminals then used those credentials to gain access to our internal client relationship management system. Before we stopped the attack, they were able to take a limited amount of personal information," Pepperstone said.
An investigation using internal and external security teams and a forensic specialist revealed last week the contract for difference and forex broker was the subject of a second attack. Pepperstone says it has reason to believe the two attacks are related and has begun to alert customers at risk.
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https://itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/optus-in-bid-to-lure-broadband-users-with-new-nbn-plans.html
Monday, 14 September 2020 05:27
Optus in bid to lure broadband users with new NBN plans
Australia's second largest telco, Singtel Optus, has unveiled a number of NBN plans on the two higher speeds that this network offers: 100/20Mbps and 50/20Mbps.
The plans on the lower speed option are:
A $75 per month plan that gives customers unlimited data, an Optus Ultra Wi-Fi modem, access to Optus Sport and an option of not paying $252 for the modem if one stays on the plan for three years. There is, however, a $99 start-up fee.
A second plan costs $79 a month and has all the options of the first plan, but also offers a Fetch Mini and three months of free Fetch Ultimate. Fetch is an entertainment platform sold by the telco.
A third plan costs $90 a month and has all the options of the first plan but adds a Fetch Mighty, three months of Fetch Ultimate and a one-month premium Channel Pack.
There are three plans on the 100/20Mbps option which is claimed to provide 80Mbps during the rush hours of 7pm to 11pm:
A $95 per month plan offers the modem and access to Optus Sport.
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Forget Mars, scientists find signs of life on Venus
· The Times
Evidence that alien life might exist in the atmosphere above Venus has been discovered by astronomers.
A gas has been found in the clouds around the planet that is strongly associated with life, raising the possibility that microbes might be present there.
The phosphine molecules were spotted by astronomers, who said that they had failed to find a non-biological explanation for their presence.
On Earth, phosphine is taken as a sign of life and is found, for instance, in swamp gas after being released by microbes.
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And we launched or first commercial rocket.
See here:
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Enjoy!
David.
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