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 week with a large scale change in the ADHA Board – which I suspect will lead to executive change after the election.
The other theme this week has been messy and rushed legislation and regulation. One gets the feeling no-one exactly knows what they are doing.
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Queensland Health rejects call to pause electronic medical record rollout
Doctors group meets with department over concerns
The head of Queensland Health has rejected calls by a doctors group to pause the rollout of a digital health record system across the state’s hospitals.
ABC reporter Josh Bavas revealed today that the Australian Medical Association of Queensland (AMAQ) had called for the rollout of the Integrated Electronic Medical Record (ieMR) to be put on hold while concerns over its operation are addressed.
In a statement sent to Computerworld, the AMAQ said it continued to be supportive of the digitisation of hospitals and health services.
“However, we have voiced concerns about the roll-out of Queensland Health’s Integrated Electronic Medical Record (ieMR) across public hospitals,” the statement said. “These concerns have been reported to us by doctors working in the public health system.”
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Rural Queensland town to get headspace service after community campaign
1:08pm Apr 1, 2019
The rural town of Emerald has been dealing with an increasing rate of youth suicides in the past 18 months.
The central Queensland town of Emerald will get a boost in mental health services for young people after the federal government announced it will open up a satellite headspace service.
The move comes as the mining services town grapples with an increasing rate of suicides.
Emerald, which has a population of 13,500, has lost 10 people to suicide in the past six months and 18 in the last year, nine.com.au understands.
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Victoria adopts real-time prescription monitoring across the state
The state-wide rollout of the SafeScript system is expected reduce the risk of overdose deaths for thousands of patients.
01 Apr 2019
The state-of-the-art system is able to provide doctors, nurses and pharmacists with up-to-the-minute information on the prescription history of patients attempting to access high-risk Schedule 4 and 8 medicines.
Real-time prescription monitoring was introduced across the Western Victoria Primary Health Network last October, and the system has already identified around 4500 patients visiting multiple clinics or pharmacies who are at risk of harm of overdose.
‘SafeScript has been embraced by doctors and pharmacists in Western Victoria and we know it’s saving lives,’ Victorian Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley said.
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Real-time prescription monitoring was introduced across the Western Victoria Primary Health Network last October, and the system has already identified around 4500 patients visiting multiple clinics or pharmacies who are at risk of harm of overdose.
‘SafeScript has been embraced by doctors and pharmacists in Western Victoria and we know it’s saving lives,’ Victorian Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley said.
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Script-shopping software raises red flags, but doctors want more support for addicts
By Benjamin Preiss and Melissa Cunningham
April 3, 2019 — 11.20am
It's a scourge that kills many more people in Victoria than car accidents.
But doctors fear a new red flag system designed to prevent "doctor shopping" for prescription medication could put further strain on Victoria's already stretched health system.
More than 4500 patients at risk of overdose have already been uncovered by health professionals across 400 sites in a six-month trial of the SafeScript scheme in western Victoria.
The real-time software, which was rolled across the rest of the state on Monday, alerts doctors and pharmacists about patients who may have a history of painkiller addiction.
Figures provided by the government showed that more than 400 people died in Victoria from prescription medication overdoses in 2017.
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What are they waiting for?
Why are some jurisdictions dragging their feet on real-time monitoring? asks Angelo Pricolo
As Victoria powers ahead with the Australia’s first automated Real-Time Prescription Monitoring (RTPM) system, the elephant in the room is “What are the other states and territories waiting for?”
The Guild president in the ACT, Simon Blacker, said last week that ACT doctors and pharmacists could now track patient use of some prescription medicines in real time. It comes after the ACT Government introduced real-time prescription monitoring legislation last year, which was one of the recommendations from a 2016 coronial inquiry into the drug overdose death of a 21-year-old Canberra man.
But why is it taking so long in NSW and other states, when the SafeScript launch in Melbourne on Sunday saw the Health Minister announce that SafeScript is available to health practitioners across Victoria from the 1st April?
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What does the new Secure Cloud Strategy mean for healthcare?
Hafizah Osman | 04 Apr 2019
The Digital Transformation Agency, set up to improve people’s experience of government services, has set out new requirements as part of a new Secure Cloud strategy, bringing more change around privacy and security policies for all industries including healthcare.
The new requirements demand Australian software companies to complete a compliance process and accreditation before they’re able to roll out third-party services.
The mandatory policy applies to any third-party that uses cloud services to connect with the Department of Human services (DHS) – this encompasses services such as My Health Record, Medicare, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and other forms of care.
Macquarie Cloud Services Head of Customer Experience Phil Wallace said the move aims to lift security protecting sensitive health data and payments platforms, which is vital for healthcare as it’s responsible for more mandatory data breach notifications than any other sector.
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Allscripts unveils new innovation hub for local healthcare IT start-ups
Giuseppe Tauriello, The Advertiser
April 1, 2019 7:00pm
US healthcare IT giant Allscripts has unveiled its new Innovation Hub in the CBD, where it hopes to attract and collaborate with local tech innovators in the sector.
The company, which is working with SA Health on upgrades to its controversial EPAS electronic medical record (EMR) system - now known as Sunrise - employs 35 staff at its Australia and New Zealand headquarters on Frome St.
The Innovation Hub offers flexible workspaces for prospective tenants, while a separate Health Experience Centre (HEC) replicates a hospital environment, allowing Allscripts and its local partners the ability to showcase their tech solutions.
Allscripts Australia and New Zealand general manager Todd Haebich said multiple healthcare IT start-ups would be supported in the new Innovation Hub, which would encourage collaboration.
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Radiologists back compulsory decision-support software for GPs
But they say the MBS task force doesn't understand the gravity of what it's proposing
2nd April 2019
The peak body for radiologists says it supports “the intention” of forcing GPs to use decision-support software when making imaging requests, but warns the idea may not work in practice.
In January, the MBS Review Taskforce’s diagnostic medicine clinical committee recommended that GPs should be required to use a computer app when ordering Medicare-funded imaging.
The committee said the extra step — intended to reduce overservicing — needed to be applied to MBS items deemed susceptible to inappropriate claiming, such as those for lower back imaging.
New software would need to be developed to make it work, but that should be possible within two years as a similar tool had already been created by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR), the task force said.
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New PIP to track GP patients’ drinking and smoking
These are the patient outcomes practices will need to show improvements in
5th April 2019
Five years after its new quality improvement practice incentive was announced, the Department of Health has finally revealed the list of patient outcomes GP practices must track to receive payments.
The quality improvement (QI) incentive will be the centrepiece of an overhauled Practice Incentives Program (PIP) that pays GP clinics to collect patient data and send it to primary health networks.
The revamp, due to be in place by August, has had a troubled history, with concerns it will veer into pay-for-performance and claims it will end up a Trojan horse for funding cuts.
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ACCC releases Consumer Data Right draft rules, seeks feedback
- 31 March 2019
- Written by Sam Varghese
The Australian competition watchdog has released draft rules for the Consumer Data Right and has invited consumers, businesses and community organisations to send in their feedback by 10 May so that the rules can take effect from 1 July.
The Federal Government had promised in November 2017 that legislation for the CDR would be passed the following year. At that time, then Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, Angus Taylor, said: “Government is pursuing the very simple idea that the customer should own their own data. It is a powerful idea and a very important one.
“Australians have been missing out because it’s too hard to switch to something better. You may be able to access your recent banking transactions, or compare this quarter’s energy bill to the last, but it sure isn’t quick or easy to work out if you can get a better deal elsewhere.”
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My Health Record gets another $200m
Budget 2019: ADHA to continue scheme.
The federal government will spend another $200 million to continue Australia’s controversial My Health Record system next year.
With around 90 percent of the population having recently entered the scheme, the government has committed its first funding to the national e-health records system since 2017-18.
It follows the end of a protracted opt-out period that was extended following concerns from key stakeholders including the Australian Medical Association.
The six-month window saw over 2.5 million Australian's - or around 10 percent of eligible individuals - opt-out of the scheme.
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Budget 2019 IT measures in brief: the list so far
By Justin Hendry on Apr 3, 2019 12:07PM
Budget 2019: An overview take on where tech money is flowing this year...
When it comes to government technology spend, rats, mice and mid-sized items abound. Here's iTnews' first take of what projects are in play from the big to the small.
- $249.8 million to pilot key elements of a new employment services model that includes “digital employment servicing" prior to national rollout.
- $128.8 million for the expansion of the government’s cashless debit card scheme, which will include further enhancements to supporting technology.
- $80 million for data infrastructure to support the government’s ten-year investment plan for the Medical Research Future Fund.
- $67.1 million for the Digital Transformation Agency to accelerate development of its GovPass digital identity system.
- $38.4 million for the establishment of “risk-based compliance and information sharing systems in the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission”.
- $25.1 million for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to respond to privacy complaints in a timely manner, as well as strengthen enforcement around social media and online platform that breach privacy regulations.
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Australia's anti-encryption laws stay unchanged
As review decides two more reviews are needed pronto.
Australia’s anti-encryption law will survive unchanged for now after a committee reviewing them could not agree on further changes.
In a fresh setback to the technology industry, which has consistently railed against the laws rushed through parliament at the end of last year, their latest feedback and recommendations to have the controversial laws amended (or revoked) again fell on deaf ears.
All the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security could come up with was yet another review of the laws, along with a move to expedite a separate review by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) of how the anti-encryption laws are operating, which won’t report until 2020. [pdf]
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Senate panel offers no recommendations on encryption law changes
- 04 April 2019
- Written by Sam Varghese
The latest review into the Federal Government's encryption law, passed on 6 December last year, has made just three recommendations, none of which affect the actual text or definitions in the law, according to a 136-page report from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security released on Thursday.
The PJCIS, which began the review soon after the bill became law, recommended that a relevant section of the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018 be amended to require a review by it, before June 2020, of any amendments to the law.
A second recommendation was that sufficient resources be provided to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, Dr James Renwick, who has been asked to review the law and report back by 1 March 2020.
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CA chief says number of issues in encryption law troubling
- 04 April 2019
- Written by Sam Varghese
John Stanton: "Genuine risks are posed to the cyber security of all Australians and lasting damage is being done to the Australian tech industry – right now."
Communications Alliance chairman John Stanton says the fact that the latest report from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security on the encryption law contains more than 100 pages about issues and problems that stakeholders have identified with the legislation was troubling.
"That is a frightening reality in itself," Stanton, who has been a vocal critic of the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018 right from the time the public draft was revealed in August last year, told iTWire.
The PJCIS released its report on Thursday following a review that it began soon after the bill was passed into law in December last year. But it made no recommendations about changes to the bill.
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Amendments to Australia's encryption laws stranded before election
Once again, Labor has been Charlie Brown to the Coalition's Lucy with the football.
Eventually, one would think that the Australian Labor Party would grow tired of being owned over and over again by the nation's conservative parties, but here we are in what will extremely likely be the final week of the 45th Parliament, and once again the ALP has been outmanoeuvred by the Coalition.
At every step in the process to rush the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act into being, Labor has been played like a harp from hell.
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Govt puts its outsourced data handlers on notice
Will introduce new hosting certification.
Data centre and managed services providers that handle government data will be subject to more stringent assessment under a new strategy released by the Digital Transformation Agency.
The hosting strategy, released on Friday after more than a year of development, reveals a new certification framework will be introduced to mitigate data sovereignty, supply chain and data centre ownership risks.
The hosting certification framework will be developed and administered by a new Digital Infrastructure Service to be established within the DTA, which will oversee data centre certification and network infrastructure management across government.
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Microsoft backs new government rules around data centre ownership
Canberra Data Centres expands to Sydney
Microsoft has welcomed a move by the government to introduce a certification scheme that will confine the hosting of classified data to data centres that meet certain ownership criteria.
The government’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) last week unveiled its hosting strategy. A key component of it is a two-level certification system.
To be certified as a ‘Sovereign Data Centre’ a facility’s owner will have to allow the government to set out certain ownership criteria for it. Certification as an ‘Assured Data Centre’ will require agreement to yet-to-be-specified financial penalties or incentives if there is a change in ownership or control of a facility.
The aim of the strategy, the government said, is to address supply chain risks as well as minimise the costs incurred if a change in ownership requires an agency to transition to a new facility.
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Morrison moves on AI guidelines
- 12:00AM April 5, 2019
The federal government is moving to create guidelines for ethics in AI, as issues like deaths caused by driverless cars and sweeping job losses from automation loom large.
Federal science and innovation minister Karen Andrews told The Australian that grappling with AI is one of the most pressing issues in her portfolio, and she is today launching a discussion paper from the CSIRO in order to kick off a nationwide conversation.
“There are a number of concerns people have with machines; their first concern is the effect on the future of employment,” Ms Andrews said. “Will there be job losses as robots do more of our repetitive work? And what security systems are in place to make sure that ultimately humans have control of machine decision making?
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Federal govt to create AI ethics guidelines
Wants feedback on which values to embed in tech.
The Coalition government has revealed plans to create guidelines to ensure artificial intelligence is responsibly developed and applied in Australia.
It’s currently seeking feedback on a discussion paper [pdf] released by the CSIRO’s Data61 today, which puts forward a number of principles designed to “embed our values” in the technology, minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said.
“AI has the potential to provide real social, economic, and environmental benefits – boosting Australia’s economic growth and making direct improvements to people’s everyday lives,” Andrews said.
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Govt seeks views on ‘AI for a fairer go’ framework
CSIRO’s Data61 releases consultation paper proposing eight principles to guide developers, industry and government
The government is seeking the public’s concerns about artificial intelligence, as it works towards formulating a national AI ethics framework.
CSIRO’s Data61 today launched a discussion paper to “encourage a conversation on how the nation develops and uses AI” covering the benefits and risks of the increasingly ubiquitous technology.
Funded by the government in its May Budget, the discussion paper proposes eight principles “to guide organisations in the use or development of AI systems”.
Feedback on the paper – and on the eight principles in particular – is being sought until the end of May.
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National Pharmacies puts Oracle's Autonomous to work
- 29 March 2019
- Written by Stephen Withers
The use of Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse and Autonomous Transaction Processing is claimed to have saved about 50% of National Pharmacies' IT budget.
National Pharmacies collects lots of data from its 350,000 members and 600,000 other customers, and is putting it to work in various ways.
CFO and innovation manager Ryan Klose said the use of ADW's machine learning features reduced the company's working capital requirements by $7 million as a result of doing a better job of stocking the right products at each of its 100 pharmacies. Getting the original deliveries right also helps reduce the hundreds of thousands of dollars the company has been spending on transferring stock between stores.
Part of this process involves identifying short-term trends – for example, National Pharmacies can see flu spreading around suburbs from purchasing patterns, and this can be used to adjust stock levels of relevant products at individual pharmacies ahead of spikes in demand.
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SA Allied Health sponsored MasterCare for MHR
A new agreement between Global Health and Adelaide Primary Health Network (APHN) will enable Allied Health professionals around South Australia to contribute to the My Health Record’s national health data collection infrastructure while experiencing the efficiency benefits of Global Health’s MasterCare+ patient administration platform for free.
A longstanding Global Health client, APHN is funding a six-month, state-wide sponsorship of MasterCare+ for Allied Health Providers who currently use paper records or disparate electronic systems so they can enjoy the security, efficiency and patient engagement benefits of standardised digital communications and record-keeping.
By integrating their practice systems into the MasterCare+ platform, osteopaths, physiotherapists, optometrists and other Allied Health practitioners will be able to collect and upload information directly into My Health Record as well as receive electronic referrals, bill electronically and digitise case notes.
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Social media companies decry threat to jail execs over terror streaming
DIGI urges government not to rush legislation after Christchurch attack
A group representing major social media companies has urged the government not to rush legislation intended to respond to the live-streaming of the Christchurch terror attack.
Over the weekend the government said it would this week introduce new legislation into parliament to “prevent the weaponising of social media platforms and to protect Australians from the live-streaming of violent crimes”.
“Big social media companies have a responsibility to take every possible action to ensure their technology products are not exploited by murderous terrorists,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement.
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Govt expands socmed crackdown laws, including jail time, to internet, content and hosting providers
Broad-brush laws rammed through Australian Senate.
Australia is a step away from rushing in new laws that criminalise internet, hosting and content providers that don’t identify and remove “abhorrent” video, audio and still images fast enough for law enforcement’s liking.
The new offences passed the Senate late on Wednesday night - even before a draft of the laws was published - and will now be referred to the lower house for final approval.
The laws passed the Senate on the ayes - meaning a majority, without substantial opposition - though new Senator Duncan Spender briefly interjected to ask where the bill text was, given it appeared no one had seen what they were voting on.
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Labor won't stand in way of Morrison government's social media laws
By John McDuling
April 3, 2019 — 12.00am
Tough new measures designed to punish tech companies that fail to stop the spread of violent content on the internet are set to be rushed through Parliament, after federal Labor said it would set aside its concerns and support the legislation.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison last weekend announced plans in the wake of the Christchurch massacre to introduce laws would make it a criminal offence for online platforms to fail to rapidly remove "abhorrent violent material", including videos of terrorist attacks and murders.
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus confirmed on Tuesday that Labor would not oppose the legislation, despite criticising the rushed timetable for its introduction in Parliament.
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Atlassian's Farquhar: social media laws will 'cost jobs, damage tech'
By John McDuling
April 4, 2019 — 10.11am
Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar has joined the chorus of tech and media industry figures expressing concerns about new laws being rushed through parliament in the wake of the Christchurch massacre that could result in jail terms for tech executives and multi-billion-dollar fines for their employers.
In a series of tweets late on Tuesday, Mr Farquhar described the legislation as "flawed" and claimed it "will unecessarily cost jobs" in the tech industry.
The legislation, which is an amendment to the Criminal Code Act, passed the Senate on Wednesday and it set to be rushed through the House of Representatives on Thursday, the final sitting day before the election is expected to be called.
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Australia's 'world-first' social media laws could require action within an hour
Attorney-General defines what he sees as reasonable.
Social media and content platforms could have less than an hour to identify and start removing “abhorrent” video, audio or still images from their sites under “world-first” laws passed in Australia.
Having quickly rammed the social media crackdown laws through the Senate late last night, the laws also passed Australia’s lower house with little opposition.
They not only affect social media platforms but also internet, content and hosting providers that store content both inside and outside of Australia.
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Govt, Labor will never learn from mistakes of the past
- 04 April 2019
- Written by Sam Varghese
Both the Federal Government and the Opposition want a law against social media to pass in a hurry so that they can brandish it during the election campaign and style themselves as firm, decisive entities that act against tech companies when needed.
Under the proposed law, an individual can be jailed if their social media service or online platform "recklessly" provides access to or hosts offending material and they do not "expeditiously" take it down, according to The Age. How the words "reckless" and "expeditiously" are defined is anyone's guess.
A company could be docked up to 10% of annual global turnover, with a jury to determine whether it acted fast enough or not in taking down offensive content.
The government, apparently, has not learnt a thing from its NBN disaster or its encryption law fiasco. The simple lesson that even a two-year-old would have absorbed would have been: don't mess with technology when you have no idea what you are doing.
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https://itwire.com/government-tech-policy/86627-new-social-media-laws-rammed-through-parliament.html
New social media laws rammed through Parliament
- 05 April 2019
- Written by Sam Varghese
New laws that target social media platforms which allow live streaming and broadcast of violent crimes has been passed by the Australian Parliament.
The laws were passed by the lower house on Thursday on what is likely to be the last sitting day before the Federal Election.
Attorney-General Christian Porter said in a statement that Australia now had a penalty regime against social media companies which failed to remove abhorrent violent material in a reasonable time.
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NBN Co reveals 183,000 FTTN users don't get over 25Mbps
Number of impacted users increases since mid-2017.
NBN Co has revealed that 183,000 fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) services aren’t hitting minimum peak speeds of 25Mbps.
This is the equivalent of 7.6 percent of the company’s 2.4 million active FTTN services. It is only the second time NBN Co has revealed this number.
Back in August 2017, NBN Co first said that 54,000 FTTN users couldn’t achieve speeds over 25Mbps, equal to six percent of all active users.
That means the new set of figures, which are current as at March 4, show that the number of users that fall into this unfortunate category has risen over time.
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NBN Co opens hundreds of new complex remediation cases
A 1290 percent increase in just one year.
NBN Co has seen a massive jump in the number of users in need of complex “custom remediation” of their services, up from 52 in April last year to 723 today.
The 1290 percent increase in open custom remediation cases coincides with the network moving into the final phase of construction - one that was always thought would include the most hard-to-connect premises.
Custom remediation works are complex and can involve the replacement of long cable runs, additional construction work, and “even a complete redesign to another technology”, NBN Co said.
NBN Co said overnight that it has opened a total of 723 custom remediation cases. Of those, only 10 have been completed, and the rest remain open.
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NBN Co technicians now missing 469 appointments a day
But 150 a day just turn up early or late and complete the work.
NBN Co’s technicians are now ‘missing’ 469 appointments a day, though in about one-third of cases the technician is early or late but still completes the work.
The network builder said that between 1 July 2018 and 20 February this year, the total number of missed technician appointments was 114,093 - a shade under 470 a day.
The last time NBN Co reported these numbers, for the financial year ended June 30 last year, it missed 157,268 appointments or 430 a day.
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Satellite broadband ‘to obliterate NBN’
The National Broadband Network faces competition from lower-cost satellite broadband that threatens to deliver a knockout blow.
April 5, 2019
The National Broadband Network faces competition from lower-cost, lower-orbit satellite technology that threatens to deliver a knockout blow.
Instead of being conventional satellites the size of buses, the small satellites are the size of toasters, orbit much closer to Earth, and network to offer broadband services.
Thousands of these satellites network to form what are called “a constellation” and work together to offer superfast broadband networks with up to gigabit speeds and low latency.
Two companies have been gearing to launch constellations. UK-headquartered OneWeb reportedly is cashed up with $US3.4bn in investments and wants to initially launch 650 satellites while SpaceX’s StarLink plans to launch up to 12000, with the first large deployment earmarked by May.
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Full fibre the least faulty NBN technology
Fibre-to-the-node and HFC lead the way in complaints for year to July 2018.
Fibre-to-the-premises (FttP) is the least faulty technology in NBN's arsenal, according to figures disclosed by the company.
Responding to Senate Estimates Questions on Notice, the company responsible for the National Broadband Network (NBN) broke down its 409,821 faults lodged in fiscal year 17-18 by technology.
In absolute terms, fibre-to-the-node (FttN) led the way with 216,000 faults, followed by HFC with 84,300, and FttP with 75,000. NBN's most recently launched technology choice, fibre-to-the-curb (FttC), had only 81 faults, while fibre-to-the-basement (FttB) had 6,800 faults lodged, satellite had 6,000, and fixed wireless had 21,000.
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Enjoy!
David.
