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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Suddenly we seem to be having a little pre-Christmas spurt of activity – not all that clear why.
Seems the ADHA thinks more people want their #myHR on their phone – again not sure why.
Lots to browse – have fun.
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My Health Record mobile app for account holders to launch in early 2022
The upcoming app will be based on the Chamonix-developed Healthi app.
By Campbell Kwan | November 12, 2021 | Topic: Mobility
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has signed a contract with Chamonix IT Management Consulting for the company to build out a My Health Record mobile app for accountholders.
The contract, valued at AU$2.1 million, is for Chamonix IT to build a new mobile app that gives My Health Record account holders the ability to view their patient, clinical, and lab records.
As part of the deal, the ADHA has also acquired Chamonix's IP rights for the health record app Healthi, which is what the My Health Record app will be based on. Healthi provides health record services and was the first third-party app to be connected to the My Health Record.
ADHA representatives said the My Health Record app would differ from Healthi in a few ways, particularly through providing notifications about COVID-19 boosters and access to digital vaccination certificates.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/chamonix-lands-my-health-record-app-deal-572608
Chamonix lands My Health Record app deal
By Justin Hendry on Nov 12, 2021 1:02PM
Will build app on behalf of Australian Digital Health Agency.
The federal government has enlisted Adelaide-based IT services provider Chamonix to build a consumer-facing mobile app for the My Health Record.
The Australian Digital Health Agency awarded Chamonix a $2.1 million contract for the work this week as part of a wider overhaul of the infrastructure supporting the ehealth record.
The app is intended to improve access to information through the My Health Record, complementing existing digital channels, including the online government services portal myGov.
An ADHA spokesperson told iTnews the app would be available for download in early 2022, though the first iteration will “be a read-only interface to My Health Record”.
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https://www.afr.com/street-talk/healthengine-presses-pause-on-ipo-20211109-p597et
HealthEngine presses pause on IPO
Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup and Kanika Sood
Nov 9, 2021 – 9.31pm
Medical appointments booking platform HealthEngine’s float has stalled, and is no longer poised to come to market before Christmas.
The business, which had been holding cornerstone meetings in mid-October, had been struggling to set a valuation, with fund managers and the company not aligning on the price.
The business, which had RBC Capital Markets and Bell Potter acting as joint lead managers, is understood to still be interested in raising growth capital, but whether that’s in the form of a listing, or via private markets is now up in the air.
The business had been looking to raise around $100 million, with a chunk no doubt designated to pay down early investors like Seven West Media.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/data-protection-is-a-mental-health-issue-for-young-people/57514
9 November 2021
Data protection is a mental health issue for young people
By Dr Piers Gooding, Dr Rys Farthing and Emily Painter
In 2018, a Melbourne high school mistakenly released the personal digital records of hundreds of students.
Among the records were details of students’ “mental health conditions, medications, learning and behavioural difficulties”. This was bad enough but globally breaches of privacy like this can be much worse.
Last year, in Finland the counselling records of around 30,000 people were hacked. The hacker(s) attempted to extort victims with the threat that the records would be publicly released. The records included details of family abuse, sexuality that was hidden from others, and suicide attempts.
“Accidents” like leaking and hacking aren’t the only issues.
Data concerning mental health is being increasingly monetised. Privacy International recently analysed 136 popular mental health websites and apps (all of which are accessible to young people) and found that 76 per cent of them included trackers or third-party code that enable data to be sold to advertisers.
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Australia's first COVID-19 IoT entry screening system piloted
The system has been trialled at The Children's Hospital at Westmead.
By Adam Ang
November 09, 2021 09:14 PM
An Internet of Things integrated entry screening system developed by the University of Sydney and Sydney Children's Hospitals Network has been tested early this year at The Children's Hospital at Westmead.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Using a personalised QR code, the COVID-19 Smart IoT Screening System provides physical gate access based on a combination of COVID-19 screening questions and temperature checks. The COVID e-Gate "utilises near real-time data analytics to provide the latest available screening information," said Dr Audrey P. Wang, biomedical informatics and digital health researcher at the University of Sydney.
If the system detects that a person's surface body temperature is above a pre-determined threshold, it will alert a concierge staff to conduct further clinical checks on that person, such as COVID-19 testing.
WHY IT MATTERS
The University of Sydney said the main idea of the e-Gate is to "improve the safety and efficiency of health screening checkpoints at large organisations such as hospitals". Michael Dickinson, director of information, communication and technology at Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, claimed the system could be useful in other large sites such as airports, major sports or entertainment venues. It could also be potentially rolled out to detect other COVID-19 variants or reconfigured for other infectious diseases.
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Digital health project hopes to improve hospital decision-making
Thursday, 04 November, 2021
A Digital Health CRC (DHCRC) research project is set to apply health informatics solutions to decision-making in hospitals with an aim to deliver safer and more effective patient care.
The $1.5 million project is a three-year collaboration between Sydney Local Health District (LHD), eHealth NSW, Murrumbidgee LHD, NSW Health, University of Sydney, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Alcidion that will evaluate and improve clinical decision support tools in both regional and metropolitan hospital settings.
Associate Professor Melissa Baysari from the University of Sydney explained that while decision support systems are often implemented in hospitals, they are either poorly taken up or worked around.
“We need to improve the ‘fit’ between decision support technologies and the people who use them,” A/Prof Baysari said.
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Hong Kong funds Sydney site of global health data research lab
The hub will see the development of biomedical data processing tools and new techniques in meta-genomics.
By Adam Ang
November 12, 2021 03:44 AM
The Hong Kong government via InnoHK has provided HK$17 million ($2.1 million) to set up the Sydney site of a global health AI and robotics data research laboratory.
The hub is part of the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D24H), a joint project led by the University of Hong Kong in collaboration with the University of Sydney, University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
D24H is under InnoHK's AI and Robotics cluster which "collates and curates massive, unique data resources and develop novel deep, frontier analytics" to protect the global public health and enhance individual healthcare through precision medicine.
WHY IT MATTERS
The Sydney hub will see the development of tools to process biomedical data and new computational approaches in solving major issues in the risk prediction of infectious diseases. This research using biomedical data and omic-based bioinformatics will be led by Professor Jean Yang, who also heads the hub.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/wa-health-cio-resigns-just-10-months-in-572186
WA Health CIO resigns just 10 months in
By Justin Hendry on Nov 8, 2021 6:45AM
Search for successor begins.
WA Health chief information officer Christian Rasmussen has resigned from the top job less than a year after taking the role.
A spokesperson for the department’s shared services arm, Health Support Services (HSS), confirmed his departure to “pursue other career opportunities”.
HSS has now begun looking for an “innovative and committed” executive to take the reins overseeing a yearly operational IT spend of $140 million and more than 370 staff.
Rasmussen had been in the role less than 10 months, joining from Lotterywest – aka the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia – in January.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/visionflex-and-medirecords-announce-new-australian-partnership/57140
10 November 2021
Visionflex and MediRecords announce new partnership
Practice Management Technology
Sponsored
Visionflex is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with MediRecords, Australia’s leading provider of cloud-based electronic medical record and practice management systems.
The partnership will see the companies work towards integrating Visionflex’s powerful video conferencing platform, Vision, with MediRecords’ cloud-based electronic health record and practice management software platforms. This will enable health professionals to perform clinical telehealth examinations and automatically save patient data to their patient records.
Such an integration would allow physicians to examine remote patients via video telehealth using a blood pressure and blood sugar monitor, stethoscope, pulse oximeter, ECG, thermometer, and weight scales. All clinical health data collected during the exam would be saved to the patient file within MediRecords.
Vision technology will also enable multiple video participants to appear on-screen simultaneously during a patient examination and provide them with remote camera and monitor control functions.
Ultimately, the partnership aims to create a powerful video-conference telehealth system designed for collaborative, multidisciplinary and evidence-based decision making.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/racgp-unveils-inclusive-new-sex-and-gender-standards-patient-records
RACGP unveils 'inclusive' new sex and gender standards for patient records
GPs have been advised to display LGBTIQA+ flags and ensure patients' preferred pronouns are used in the latest update to practice standards.
11th November 2021
By Kemal Atlay
GPs will need to record each patient’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth in clinical notes under the latest update to the RACGP’s standards.
The college has also advised GP clinics to be more inclusive of sex- and gender-diverse patients by using their preferred pronouns and displaying the LGBTIQA+ flag or symbols.
The standards, updated this month, offer guidance on how to accurately collect and record information about patients’ sex, gender, intersex variations and sexual orientation.
This will facilitate a “respectful and culturally appropriate" environment and ensure patients don’t miss out on appropriate clinical care, according to the college.
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https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/article/mobile-health-monitoring-420818409
Mobile health monitoring
Paessler
By Sebastian Krueger, Asia Pacific Vice President
Friday, 05 November, 2021
The pandemic led to a significant increase in workloads at a number of hospitals across Australia with a massive influx of patients, forcing hospitals to quickly improve the speed and efficiency of their workflows.
The medical technology industry provides a wide range of products to diagnose, monitor and treat patients, and is instrumental in helping healthcare organisations to achieve better patient outcomes, lower healthcare costs, improve efficiencies and offer better patient care. New regulations, digitisation, data analytics, artificial intelligence, automation and the development of value-based healthcare represent some of the numerous challenges as well as opportunities facing the healthcare industry and its use of mobile devices.
Healthcare providers have used mobile technology for some time, including handheld computers and point-of-care devices that help clinicians as they provide bedside care. These mobile medical devices, which are often wheeled around on a trolley to each patient, improve accuracy by reducing the need to enter patient information manually. They enable healthcare workers to connect with patient records and simplify the workflow for collecting specimens.
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The Children's Hospital at Westmead trials COVID-19 e-Gate
Wednesday, 10 November, 2021
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead has trialled an Australian-first COVID-19 e-Gate integrated entry screening system developed by the University of Sydney and Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network.
Tested earlier this year, and with potential for rollout for COVID-19 variants or reconfiguring for other infectious diseases, the e-Gate provides an efficient screening and contact tracing process before people enter hospital.
Dr Audrey P Wang, a researcher in biomedical informatics and digital health from the University of Sydney, said the system uses a personalised QR code for physical gate-enabled access based on a combination of evidence-based COVID-19 screening questions and temperature checks.
“Our COVID e-Gate utilises near real-time data analytics to provide the latest available screening information,” said Dr Wang, from the University’s Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, Charles Perkins Centre and Faculty of Medicine and Health.
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https://www.ama.com.au/gpnn/issue-21-number-44/articles/using-my-health-record-general-practice
Using My Health Record in general practice
11 Nov 2021
To help support GPs with using the My Health Record, the Australian Digital Health Agency has developed a FREE self-paced online course which is available via doctorportal Learning.
The course takes an hour to complete, with that hour or 2 points counting towards your CPD requirements. After completing the course participants will be able to:
- Determine the key health information that can be accessed to support clinical decision-making and improve patient safety
- Integrate My Health Record into routine practice
- Outline the importance of uploading quality data to the My Health Record system.
Go direct to the course: https://www.dplearning.com.au/cpd-learning/my-health-record-in-general-practice
See what else doctorportal Learning has to offer at: https://www.dplearning.com.au/cpd-learning
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11 Nov 2021 11:02 AM AEST –
Seniors living in smart homes project wins IoT award
Monash University’s Emerging Technologies Research Lab (ETLab) has been recognised by the Internet of Things (IoT) Australia for research highlighting how modern technology can support older adults.
The Intelligent Home Solutions for Independent Living project - a collaboration between Monash’s ETLab, McLean Care, and Deakin University, and funded by the Australian Government Department of Health - received the IoT Australia award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Action earlier this week.
ETLab Director Professor Sarah Pink says the award, added for the first time this year, showcases the importance of considering older adults in technology design.
“Seniors are often forgotten about in smart technology design. Winning the IoT’s inaugural award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Action recognises that it is essential for us to engage with seniors to understand and enable their relationships for technologies in ways and places that work for them,” Professor Pink said.
“This knowledge is crucial for the design of the right technologies for ethical human futures that we will really want to live in.”
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NSW moves to fortify check-in app data privacy, prevent police access
By Justin Hendry on Nov 12, 2021 7:00AM
Introduces Covid-19 information privacy bill.
The NSW government has moved to strengthen the privacy protections behind QR code check-in data that prevent law enforcement access by enshrining the safeguards in legislation.
The Service NSW (One-stop Access to Government Services) Amendment (COVID-19 Information Privacy) Bill was introduced to parliament on Wednesday and has already passed the lower house.
It follows similar efforts by the Victorian government to further restrict the use of such data by police through its Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill last month.
Concerns around law enforcement access to check-in data have been swirling since June, when it was revealed WA Police had accessed QR code check-in data.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/586575/Waikato-cyber-incident-contained--review-in-2022.htm
Waikato cyber incident ‘contained’ – report in 2022
Wednesday, 10 November 2021
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
An independent provider to
investigate the Waikato DHB cyber-attack will be announced before the end of
the year and the DHB says the incident has been “successfully contained”.
The DHB was hit by a ransomware attack on May 18 causing a full outage of
Waikato’s Information Services across the region. Patient and staff details
were stolen then later posted online by the cyber criminals.
The DHB says it has progressed well through the recovery phase of its incident
response process, with most systems returned to full functionality or on
standby to be reconnected.
Health Minister Andrew Little said in June that there would be a “full, independent
inquiry” into the cyber-attack. A Ministry of Health spokesperson says the
review will examine the cause of the incident and whether it could be repeated
- either within Waikato’s environment, or another DHB.
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https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/resources/news/hips-provider-application-hpa-v10-released
HIPS Provider Application (HPA) v1.0 Released
The Australian Digital Health Agency has released the HIPS Provider Application (HPA) v1.0.
The Australian Digital Health Agency has released the HIPS Provider Application (HPA) v1.0.
HPA allows clinicians in public and private hospitals access to My Health Record patient data on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.
HPA is a mobile web application that may be added to an existing HIPS v7.1 or higher instance operated by a HIPS site.
HPA enables clinicians to list, download and display CDA™ documents while engaging with patients in ward and bed-side settings.
The key features of the application are:
Secure Active Directory login and PIN lock/unlock
- Users can log in securely using their credentials in the site’s Active Directory, and secure the login with a local device PIN, enabling the user to quickly return to the application, enter their PIN and continue reviewing their patients’ My Health Record information.
Facility selection and favourites
- Users can view patients from different healthcare facilities within the HIPS instance, where the user is in an Active Directory security group which is authorised to access the My Health Record on behalf of the facility. Users can mark their frequently accessed facilities as favourites for quick access.
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https://www.canstar.com.au/budgeting/set-up-mygov-account/
How to set up a myGov account
AMANDA HORSWILL
Digital Editor · 9 November 2021
Setting up a myGov account allows you to access your payment summaries, find out about your superannuation accounts and a range of other things. We take a look at how to set one up.
What is a myGov account?
myGov is the Federal Government’s online services portal. It allows users to log into the one website to access their ATO online account, as well as a range of other government services, such as Centrelink, Medicare and My Health Record. Government programs that offer online services through myGov, at the time of writing, include:
- Australian JobSearch
- Australian Taxation Office
- Centrelink
- Child Support
- Department of Health Applications Portal
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs
- HousingVic Online Services
- Individual Healthcare Identifiers Service
- Medicare
- My Aged Care
- My Health Record
- National Cancer Screening Register
- National Disability Insurance Scheme
- National Redress Scheme
- State Revenue Office Victoria
Once you’ve created an account and logged in, you can choose which service or services you want to link to your account. myGov will also act as an electronic mailbox for all your correspondence with those linked services, and you can set it up to send you a text message or email every time those emails arrive.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/nbn-looking-to-open-fttn-upgrade-orders-in-march-2022/
NBN looking to open FttN upgrade orders in March 2022
Although the company has announced another 200,000 more premises are eligible for an FttN upgrade, orders are expected to be opened in March.
By Chris Duckett | November 8, 2021 | Topic: Networking
The company responsible for the National Broadband Network has said it is expecting users to be able to place orders with retailers in March 2022. Until then, NBN is asking people to register their interest.
At the same time, NBN announced the next 200,000 that will be able to upgrade from fibre to the node (FttN) to fibre to the premises (FttP). This latest announcement now leaves only 400,000 premises remaining to be announced to complete the company's two million premises able to upgrade target.
NBN added it was also expecting the first invitations for customers to upgrade fibre to the curb (FttC) connections to be sent in 2022. In May, the company revealed it had replaced approximately 47,700 NBN Co Connection Devices used on FttC connections. Earlier in March, the company said it was looking for a long-term solution to lightning frying FttC equipment, which was highlighted in the Blue Mountains area of NSW.
While FttN users need to order a plan faster than 100Mbps to receive an upgrade, FttC users need to place an order for a plan over 250Mbps to get a full fibre connection.
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Friday, 12 November 2021 10:32
NBN likely to end up with $90 billion bill, top telco analyst says
By Sam Varghese
The final cost of the NBN is likely to end up being in the $90-billion range, a figure that was once claimed in 2013 by Malcolm Turnbull as what it would cost if Labor continued with its plan, a well-known independent telecommunications analyst says.
Paul Budde, who was reacting to a story this week that initial estimates about the cost of multi-technology mix connections were about three times lower than what they had turned out to be, also said in a blog post that the construction of the NBN was likely to finish closer to 2030.
The story, published by Guardian Australia, revealed the figures for FttN (between $600 and $650) and hybrid fibre coaxial (between $800 and $850 per premise), which have been kept hidden until now.
Before the 2013 election, Turnbull, who had been given the communications portfolio, claimed that the Coalition would build the NBN for $29.5 billion while Labor would spend as much as $90 billion.
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Author's Opinion
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of iTWire.
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 11:07
Malcolm Turnbull needs to explain dodgy cut-down NBN rollout figures
By Sam Varghese
Malcolm Turnbull has some explaining to do about the costs of the NBN this morning, after Guardian Australia reported figures hidden in a report commissioned by him showed a full-fibre NBN or a multi-technology mix would have cost about the same.
The figures that were touted at the time the plan was changed were about one-third of what they actually were, the report claimed, with the cost blowout since the 2013 report making both plans cost about the same.
The original plan, conceived by Labor, called for 93% of premises to get fibre, and the rest to be served through satellite or fixed wireless. This was changed in 2013 after the Coalition came to power.
Turnbull did a switcheroo after commissioning a study; under this, the majority of homes received fibre-to-the-node, estimated at costing between $600 and $650 each. Also in the revised plan was the use of hybrid fibre coaxial, which was put at between $800 and $850 per premise.
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NBN Co caps fibre upgrade trial numbers to a maximum of 525 premises
By Ry Crozier on Nov 10, 2021 10:17AM
Regardless of how many orders retailers place.
NBN Co has substantially revised down the number of premises that will actually participate in its full fibre upgrade trials from now through mid-March, clarifying that the number is capped at 525.
Earlier this week, the company told iTnews that it would take as many as 6000 orders for upgrades from fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) this month, growing to up to 25,000 by mid-March 2022.
It also said that the total number of triallists with full fibre lead-ins and connections would depend on the number of orders placed by retailers.
The company had previously said in August that up to 10,000 FTTN premises would be involved in the trial.
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NBN Co puts broadband tax target back on cellular, LEO operators
By Ry Crozier on Nov 9, 2021 1:14PM
Copper end-of-life weighs on wireless cost projections.
NBN Co has renewed calls to have 5G fixed wireless operators pay the $7.10 per user per month broadband tax, while also flagging the possibility of charging low earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators as well.
In a submission to the regional telecommunications review, NBN Co said [pdf] that any operator competing with NBN using any access technology should be “subject to regulatory symmetry, regardless of technology choices”.
NBN Co has sought to pressure the government and regulators this year to rein in emerging competitive threats, particularly as 5G fixed wireless services become generally available, offering internet speeds at NBN-equivalent prices.
The government has so far resisted calls to declare cellular technology as providing an NBN-equivalent service, mostly because these services come with quotas that are a lot smaller than what a fixed-line service offers.
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Monday, 08 November 2021 19:43
NBN helping 10,000 Aussies get 'ScamFit' campaign launch success, partners with ASCCA
NBN Co are taking the initiative during the ACCC's National Scams Awareness Week, November 8 to 12, to run a series of special free webinars, in partnership with ASCCA and other national organisations, to help Australians get 'ScamFit' as NBN and other company impersonation scams go on the rise - and losses by everyday Aussies grow, too.
NBN impersonation scams. Or scams involving people claiming to be from Border Force, Microsoft, Telstra, a courier, foreign governments and more are on the rise. They want to "help you" to speed up your Internet, question you about "illegal items" detected in a parcel addressed to you, they want to fix a virus on your computer or get you to pay fees and fines.
They're all scams - and just like romance and dating scams, items on sale at too cheap prices on Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace or elsewhere, with the seller unable to leave a military base or in some other way stuck and unable to meet you but wanting you to transfer money electronically, people wanting to log onto your computer and take control with remote access software, threats that you need to pay a fine immediately or have bank or other accounts closed, or clicking on the links in unexpected "missed voicemail" or "courier delivery issues" text messages - cyber criminals have never been more active, or successful in stealing money, passwords or other information.
So it's great to see the ACCC and nbn taking action to get the message out so that everyone - not just older Australians - becomes more cyber street smart, so they are ScamFit as nbn puts it, and 'CyberFit' as one of the top Internet security, anti-ransomware and backup software vendors, Acronis, puts it.
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NBN Co offers to upgrade up to 6000 FTTN customers from this month
By Ry Crozier on Nov 8, 2021 12:29PM
As $2.9bn fibre upgrade program moves into trial phase.
NBN Co intends to take as many as 6000 orders for upgrades from fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) this month as its $2.9 billion program shifts into a trial mode.
iTnews has confirmed that internet retailers will be able to place orders for around 6000 premises from tomorrow (November 9).
The trial will now also be extended to run through until March 14 next year and encompass around 25,000 premises.
The exact number of FTTN premises that are converted to full fibre will demand how many of the 25,000 trial spots are filled.
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NBN Co prepares pitch for more government funding
By Zoe Samios
November 8, 2021 — 12.01am
The National Broadband Network is trying to secure up to a billion dollars in extra funding from the federal government in a bid to improve its fixed wireless services ahead of the next federal election.
NBN Co executives are working on a pitch to the government which, if successful, would allow it to improve services in regional areas.
Industry sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the pitch was in its early stages, said NBN Co was considering options such as buying spectrum or moving some homes on fixed wireless to the fixed line portion of the NBN to improve service quality.
“As you would expect, NBN Co is always in discussions with the government about the continued optimisation of the network to meet future demand,” an NBN Co spokesman said.
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Enjoy!
David.
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