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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Seemed to have been a spotty week with news regarding the US and Trump subsuming everything!
Some interesting titbits however so worth a browse…
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/immunisation-register-reporting-set-be-made-mandatory
Immunisation register reporting set to be made mandatory
It is being suggested that those who don't comply could be banned from the National Immunisation Program
6th November 2020
Recording vaccinations in the Australian Immunisation Register could be mandatory as soon as next year under a new health department plan.
There have been concerns about under-reporting to the register, especially by pharmacists, with research published earlier this year finding almost half of pharmacist vaccinations in Victoria and South Australia weren’t reported in 2018-19.
To a lesser extent GP vaccinations are also under-reported, especially for adult vaccines such as shingles, the research authors have claimed.
The Federal Department of Health is suggesting compelling GPs and pharmacists to report influenza vaccinations and any potential COVID-19 vaccinations to the register starting from March next year.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/patient-died-while-results-were-faxed-doctor-coroner
Patient died while results were faxed to a doctor: coroner
A coroner found the death at an Adelaide hospital could have been prevented if the emergency medical team had been called
2nd November 2020
By AAP
The death of an Adelaide man who had a cardiac arrest in hospital could have been prevented if a medical emergency team had been on hand, a coroner has found.
Hank Jacob Velt died in Ashford Hospital in 2016 while recovering from an operation to remove his gallbladder.
Several days after the procedure, he had chest and jaw pain which prompted nurses at the private hospital to perform an ECG.
But he was left alone while the results were faxed to an on-call doctor during which time he experienced ventricular fibrillation and his heart stopped.
In his findings, coroner David Whittle said he accepted expert evidence during the inquest that had the 65-year-old been seen immediately by a doctor or an emergency team his chances of survival were good.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/psr-warning-over-doctors-handwritten-medical-notes
PSR warning over doctors' handwritten medical notes
The agency says while there is no ban on using pen and paper, there is an expectation the notes will be legible
6th November 2020
Doctors risk being sanctioned in PSR cases because investigators are unable to read their handwritten medical notes, the watchdog is warning.
“If another practitioner cannot read your notes, then this may raise a concern over whether a note is adequate and contemporaneous,” the director Professor Julie Quinlivan wrote in the agency’s newsletter last month.
Doctors who come before the PSR suspected of misusing Medicare are expected to present their clinical records so they can be examined by a watchdog committee made up of fellow specialists.
Professor Quinlivan stressed there was no ban on pen and paper.
However, she added: “If they handwrite their notes, there is an expectation that they are legible.
“This is particularly true for writing prescription details, where illegible handwriting may risk an incorrect prescription being issued.”
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/get-all-latest-covid19-research-pubmed
Get all the latest COVID-19 research from PubMed
AusDoc. has launched a new service in My Feed to help you stay on top of the pandemic
6th November 2020
By Jo Hartley
Are you finding it hard to keep up with all the studies coming out on coronavirus?
We suspect the answer’s yes, which isn’t surprising given the fact that dozens of new journal papers are being published every week.
That’s why we’ve come up with our new COVID-19 feed from PubMed.
It’s simple – every time PubMed publishes a new piece of research our feed automatically updates.
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Telstra eyes leveraging healthcare unit with Medical Director
The booming demand for the services provided by Telstra’s health business is believed to have prompted the telecommunications provider to consider more acquisitions for the business unit, and one target that is likely to make sense is Medical Director.
A sales process for Medical Director was underway before COVID-19 but was placed on hold at the onset of the virus.
Telstra has looked at the business before.
It is now believed to be looking at acquisitions and its healthcare unit is an area where it is believed the country’s largest telecommunications provider would be eager to lift its presence.
Working on the sale for owner Affinity Equity Partners is advisory firm Jefferies Australia.
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Withings ScanWatch focuses on health insights
Withings has released a stylish smartwatch that could be massively attractive to older Australians. That’s because the Withings ScanWatch measures a swag of metrics such as heart rate around the clock, along with irregular low and high heart rates over time, and purports to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib). It also has a blood oxygen (SpO2) monitor that helps detect breathing irregularities and sleep apnoea, and monitors sleep.
Like some of the French company’s earlier digital watches, it looks like an old-fashioned analog watch with regular hands and a crown. The giveaway that it’s no ordinary watch is the small digital window near the top that is surprisingly useful. You can view basic metrics such as heart rate, steps, distance moved, height gained by rotating the crown.
You can initiate ECG and oxygen saturation measurements by placing your hand over the side of the watch, set an alarm and timer, and select from a variety of workouts for tracking via that window.
The watch tells you when your phone receives a call, and SMSs and emails appears in the small window as a horizontally scrolling ticker. You need to read it attentively because once it’s displayed, it’s gone. You can’t make phone calls from the watch.
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https://hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/news/app-helps-gps-diagnose-cough-370143996
App helps GPs diagnose cough
Wednesday, 28 October, 2020
A smartphone app is now available to help Australian doctors diagnose common respiratory diseases remotely.
Designed to facilitate earlier and better-targeted treatment, ResAppDx is a clinically validated remote respiratory cough test for telehealth consultations. The device provides an indication for most common respiratory diseases such as lower tract respiratory disease, pneumonia, asthma exacerbation, bronchiolitis, croup and COPD exacerbation in both children and adults.
Patients download the ResAppDx app onto their iPhones using an access code sent by their doctor before the appointment. When instructed, the patient records five coughs using the smartphone’s microphone. The app’s algorithm-based technology analyses the results in a matter of seconds, providing an 81–97% accuracy rate in large Australian studies involving more than 1500 patients.
ResAppDx uses AI-powered analysis to identify unique features in cough sounds, allowing doctors to remotely assess patients’ respiratory health through the Coviu and Phenix Health telehealth platforms.
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NSW mandating QR codes is a game changer
QR code check-ins at venues look set to become the main source of digital contact tracing with the federal government‘s COVIDSafe app less prominent in the community.
Until recently the adoption of QR codes was a venue-by-venue matter. A cafe, restaurant, shop or other facility would display a QR code for visitors to capture with their phone camera, and the check-in data would be available to state health authorities if needed, for example should COVID-19 be later detected there.
Now some states are building massive database systems that centralise data collected by QR codes.
Victoria is implementing a QR code system that links to its Salesforce contact tracing system.
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Monday, 02 November 2020 12:07
WearOptimo, Aspen Medical launch ‘life saving’ wearable technology
New Australian wearable technology launched at the Australian National University by Brisbane-based health-tech company WearOptimo, with partner company Aspen Medical, is designed to help in giving people wearing the microwearable sensors who are suffering from heat stress and dehydration, an instant read-out of body water or hydration levels.
“By providing individuals with a measure of their own hydration, action can be taken immediately, before performance is impaired or health is risked,” WearOptimo Founder and CEO Professor Mark Kendall said.
“With higher global temperatures, the Asia-Pacific region especially will experience serious productivity losses from workers who become dehydrated. The elderly and sick are also at heightened risk. The healthcare costs of dehydration run into many billions of dollars.”
According to the ANU, the new strategic partnership between WearOptimo and Canberra-based Aspen Medical will take the Australian-designed microwearable sensors to the world market.
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Monday, 02 November 2020 18:05
Forescout releases Connected Medical Device Security report
GUEST RESEARCH: Increasingly, hospitals, GPs, aged care providers and other healthcare delivery organisations (HDOs) have complex network infrastructure with a growing volume of operational technology (OT), Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices alongside traditional IT, which is widening the attack surface in these organisations.
There has also been an increase in the number
and sophistication of cyberattacks targeting HDOs as the ability to compromise
devices and networks and obtain financial gain from patient data have gained
traction.
In Australia, according to the latest Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) notifiable data breach report, the health sector is again
the highest reporting sector, notifying 22 per cent of all breaches for the
January-June 2020 period.1
To provide insight into the security posture of HDOs, Forescout Research Labs
has released a new report: Connected Medical Device Security: A Deep
Dive into Healthcare Networks.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/wa-health-delays-124m-hybrid-cloud-shift-extends-fujitsu-deal-555554
WA Health delays $124m hybrid cloud shift, extends Fujitsu deal
By Justin Hendry on Nov 6, 2020 6:55AM
Slows Atos migration.
Western Australia’s health department has been forced to extend its long-standing centralised computing contract with Fujitsu for another year after delaying its hybrid cloud transition.
iTnews can reveal the contract, which had been slated to end in October after 10 years, was extended to accommodate a longer migration to a fully-managed Oracle Cloud platform.
French IT provider Atos picked up the $124 million managed hybrid cloud services deal in May 2019 as part of WA Health’s $409 million infrastructure replacement project HealthNext.
Atos is providing private cloud, managed cloud, hybrid cloud orchestration and co-location and managed services for 2000 servers and 1000 applications, in addition to the Oracle platform.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/practice/app-review-migraine-buddy-identifies-trigger-activities
App Review: Migraine Buddy - identifies trigger activities
The most comprehensive migraine app available
3rd November 2020
There are a lot of migraine apps around, but Migraine Buddy claims to be the most popular, with 2.2 million current users across the world.
That might be because it’s one of the most comprehensive apps for those who experience regular migraines.
It asks users to record when they have a migraine, with standard information such as timing and intensity — but with extensive extra information: weather, location, what daily activities are affected.
Users can also record details about days when they don’t have a migraine, such as what they’ve been eating (especially chocolate or cheese) and their sleep patterns.
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Friday, 06 November 2020 11:00
ACCC keeps ‘close watch’ on global anti-trust efforts & digital platforms
Australia’s competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, says it is keeping a close watch on global anti-trust efforts focusing on major digital platforms, including the US Department of Justice’s recent case against Google and proposed new competition laws in Europe.
In his annual address to the Law Council of Australia Business Law Section’s Competition and Consumer Workshop, held online, ACCC Chair Rod Sims said there was “much activity” underway in this area (anti-trust).
“The ACCC is focusing on the media bargaining code, our ad tech inquiry and our study examining app stores, and we have noted the Epic Games proceedings against Apple and Google in the US in regards to the latter,” Sims said.
Sims said the growth of the digital platforms had added to the world-wide debate about the adequacy of merger laws, including in Australia, and the ACCC would put forward ideas for changes to Australian merger laws in 2021.
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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f9b32c9e-feae-4e44-b0ea-9bd6cbd541c2
Submissions sought for Australia’s Privacy Act review
The Australian Government has published an issues paper outlining and seeking feedback on the Privacy Act 1988 (the Act) and other Australian laws protecting personal information, with submissions on a series of 68 questions due by 29 November 2020.
It will then prepare and release a discussion paper including possible options for reform early next year. This is likely to be the most significant reform to the Act since the 2014 reforms which introduced the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and a reworked credit reporting scheme.
The issues paper follows the Government’s December 2019 announcement that it would conduct a review of the Act as part of its response to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Digital Platforms Inquiry (DPI) report1. We published a detailed overview of the DPI’s privacy recommendations and Government response earlier this year, comparing key recommendations to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the 2008 Australian Law Reform Commission report on Australian privacy law (ALRC Report)2.
The new issues paper largely restates/summarises findings and recommendations in the DPI, as well as referencing earlier reports such as the ALRC Report. The ALRC Report ultimately led to the 2014 Privacy Act reforms described above, however many of the ALRC’s recommendations were not responded to by the Government or received in-principle support but were never implemented.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/how-digital-health-has-responded-to-covid-19/36683
5 November 2020
How digital health has responded to COVID-19
Sponsored
Australia’s health and aged care sectors have been fragmentally digitised for a number of years and, as a partner to some of the largest health and care providers, at Telstra Health we have seen a multitude of early adopters of digital systems.
In some states, the health and care systems have been digitised for many years; however, these systems do not always work in sync with one another, and thus do not operate as efficiently as they could for the states they support.
For example, some components of the aged care sector adopted digital systems more than a decade ago. In addition, some medical practitioners were trailblazers in adopting to digital solutions, whereas others tested out telehealth for the first time in recent months as a result of state-wide restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the height of the first wave of the pandemic, approximately 36 per cent of GP consultations were delivered by telehealth which amounted to around 4 million consultations per month. Furthermore, approximately 37 per cent of specialist consultations were delivered virtually during this time.
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https://www.healthcareit.com.au/article/painchek-partners-medi-map-expand-presence-nz-mkt
PainChek partners with Medi-map to expand presence in NZ market
Dean Koh | 04 Nov 2020
PainChek, developer of the world’s first smartphone-based pain assessment and monitoring application announced an international partnership program with New Zealand (NZ) medication management system, Medi-map.
The Medi-map platform is a medication management software for aged care providers in New Zealand. The platform manages all aspects of medication in a facility-based environment sharing the medication charts between prescriber, pharmacy and care organization staff allowing for a transparent, seamless cascade of care for each resident.
Medi-map and PainChek will collaborate through Medi-map’s promotion of PainChek to their NZ aged care clients and the integration of PainChek results into the Medi-map platform to further enhance the seamless delivery of care. PainChek says it remains responsible for direct sales, implementation, training and technical support to the NZ client base. It currently has Enliven as a customer in NZ with 300 beds under contract.
THE LARGER TREND
Last month, PainChek partnered with Ramsay Hospital Research Foundation and Edith Cowan University for a two-year research project in Australia that will investigate ways of minimizing or stopping the progression of frailty in hospital patients. The researchers will determine the effectiveness of the nurse-led volunteer intervention program, the use of PainChek plus the use of the two methods combined.
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Sectra’s digital pathology solution used in training of pathologists in Australasia
Thu, Nov 05, 2020 08:35 CET
Link̦ping, Sweden and Sydney, Australia РNovember 5, 2020 РThe Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) has reached a milestone in its exam process with trainees now using the digital pathology solution from the international medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra (STO: SECT B). This provides trainees across the region with easy-to-use tools that enable them to focus on the pathology cases at hand.
“Pathology trainees from across Australasia take several sets of exams throughout their five years of training. Now, during the ongoing pandemic, these exams are being conducted remotely instead of on campus in Sydney. Regardless of where the exams take place, we need a solid, robust and secure solution that we can rely on during this important and stressful time for trainees. Sectra’s solution is also intuitive and easy to use, requiring minimal training. We feel very confident that our new exam process using Sectra’s solution will better prepare our pathology trainees for their future careers,” says RCPA President, Doctor Michael Dray.
Sectra’s solution will be used by pathology trainees from across Australasia, including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, during their final pathology exams. The trainees will have access to Sectra’s solution through the program portal where they will receive cases and associated questions for assessment. The solution’s zero-footprint viewer and smart streaming functionality enable access to digital pathology images without large installations, at any time.
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Sectra : First sites of Australia's largest public health system now live with enterprise-wide radiology imaging solution from Sectra
11/02/2020 | 03:32pm EST
Linköping, Sweden - November 2, 2020 - The sites at the first two local health districts in NSW Health Care are now live with international medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra's (https://sectra.com/) (STO: SECT B) radiology imaging solution. The goal is to provide a common platform that enables seamless sharing of medical images and related information across Australia's most populous state. By facilitating secure, easy and immediate access to medical imaging information, the solution will support NSW Health in providing its patients with timely, high-quality care.
"I am thrilled that we are now live with the solution and can start supporting our patients using a state-of-the-art digital capability. Clinicians will now be able to cooperate efficiently around medical imaging information, enabling them to share workload and expertise. Collaboration between Local Health Districts, eHealth NSW and our industry partner, Sectra, has been excellent throughout the project, and has enabled us to reach this important milestone as planned, in spite of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," says Dr. Zoran Bolevich, Chief Executive, eHealth NSW, Chief Information Officer, NSW Health.
At this milestone of the project, the hospitals Westmead, Auburn, Blacktown and Mt Druitt, Nepean and Blue Mountains Hospital, across the two local health districts of Western Sydney and Nepean Blue Mountains, are live with Sectra's radiology imaging solution. Together, they perform more than 400,000 radiology examinations per year. In total, as announced in 2019 when the order for the solution was placed, it will be implemented across 11 organizations, including nine local health districts, the Sydney Children's Hospital Network, and NSW Health Pathology's Forensic and Analytical Science Service. Together, they manage a joint volume of more than 1.8 million imaging exams per year.
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Wednesday, 04 November 2020 16:20
OAIC confirms inquiries made with cloud software firm that was breached
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has confirmed that it has made inquiries with Blackbaud, an American cloud software firm that was hit by ransomware and ended up paying a ransom to get its data decrypted.
But an OAIC spokesperson did not go into any detail about what inquiries were made and when the organisation expected to hear back from Blackbaud.
"We can confirm we have made inquiries with Blackbaud and those inquiries are continuing," the spokesperson said in response to an inquiry.
"We expect any organisation responding to a data breach involving personal information to act quickly to contain the incident and assess the potential impact on those affected."
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/535062/nHIP-pushed-out-until-2021.htm
nHIP pushed out until 2021
Sunday, 1 November 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Work on developing a national
Health Information Platform has been pushed out one year due to the impact of
Covid-19 and new items have been added to tranche one of the project.
The time to complete this first stage, which will now include incorporating
information about entitlements and access to primary care data for consumers,
has been reduced by six months.
Ministry of Health group manager digital strategy and investment Darren
Douglass gave an update on the platform at an NZHIT Summit in Auckland on
October 29.
He said the original plan (with Cabinet approval) was to establish tranche one
in June of this year, but when Covid-19 hit the entire nHIP team was moved on
to the pandemic response.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/537607/Whanganui-deploys-telehealth-on-Teams-.htm
Whanganui deploys telehealth on Teams
Wednesday, 4 November 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Whanganui DHB is running its
telehealth service on Microsoft Teams and has introduced a routine ‘tech check’
for patients.
The DHB began building the service in mid-April and deployed it in June, in
response to the need to provide care remotely due to the threat of Covid-19.
It is fully integrated with the Microsoft Office 365 toolset and DXC WebPAS
patient administration system and uses DXC’s Open Health Connect to
automatically book a Teams telehealth appointment from an outpatient booking
and manage the associated workflows.
Alex McLeod, ICT service delivery manager at the DHB, says a key part of the
process was working with DXC on mapping out the patient journey and what needed
to be done to enable that. As part of this they introduced a new process to
ensure patients can use telehealth.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/full-fibre-cheaper-for-on-demand-fttn-upgrade-model-nbn-ceo/
Full fibre cheaper for on-demand FttN upgrade model: NBN CEO
While fibre to the curb is cheaper than fibre to the premises as a general rule, NBN has said this is not so when upgrading fibre to the node in a piecemeal fashion.
By Chris Duckett | November 4, 2020 -- 05:32 GMT (16:32 AEDT) | Topic: Networking
The company responsible for the National Broadband Network (NBN) has said it would upgrade customers from fibre to the node (FttN) to fibre to the premise (FttP) because it is cheaper than alternatives such as fibre to the curb (FttC).
Speaking to the joint parliamentary committee examining the NBN business case, CEO Stephen Rue said the reason for the traditionally more expensive FttP being cheaper than FttC was due to the latter requiring a distribution point unit (DPU) to service up to four homes, with the cost of the unit being spread across homes connected to it.
But if one home is all that connects, it does not remain cheaper.
"When we when we look at a on-demand model, fibre to the premise is more cost-effective because you simply don't know if your neighbors are also going to sign up," Rue said.
"If you're upgrading ... one individual home, fibre to the premise will then be cheaper, but obviously if you then end up doing three, it's more expensive."
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https://itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/fletcher-says-2021-will-be-year-of-5g-in-australia.html
Wednesday, 04 November 2020 16:46
Fletcher says 2021 will be year of 5G in Australia
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says next year will be the year of 5G in Australia as the Federal Government has scheduled allocations of both high-band and low-band spectrum for use by 5G services.
In a statement, Fletcher said the first allocation would be in April and this spectrum would be in the 26GHz band, which would enable fast, high-capacity services.
In the second half of the year, the allocation of low-band spectrum, in the 850/900Mhz band, would take place. This is crucial in broader geographic coverage of 5G services.
Mid-band spectrum has already been allocated by the government and existing 5G services are using this band.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-could-have-first-gigabit-ready-fttc-services-in-a-year-555517
NBN Co could have first gigabit-ready FTTC services in a year
By Ry Crozier on Nov 4, 2020 6:05PM
Though asks not to be held to that timeline.
NBN Co has predicted up to gigabit speeds will be possible in its fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) footprint “within the next calendar year”, though CEO Stephen Rue asked not to be held to the timeline.
Speaking to an NBN senate committee on Wednesday, Rue provided extra detail on $100 million of planned FTTC upgrades between now and 2023 that were announced in late September.
The FTTC investments are part of a larger $3.5 billion upgrade program aimed at making more of the NBN footprint capable of supporting up to gigabit speeds.
NBN Co said at the time that the $100 million would go towards “on-demand enablement and deployment of G.Fast capability or the provision of fibre lead-ins in certain circumstances.”
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NBN Co offers technology choice exit for would-be FTTN upgraders
By Ry Crozier on Nov 4, 2020 1:11PM
Won’t reimburse users that already paid for an upgrade.
NBN Co is offering individuals pursuing an upgrade from fibre-to-the-node to full fibre a chance to cancel their applications and be issued refunds - in the hope of being able to get the same upgrade for free.
But cancelling an in-train ‘technology choice’ application comes with the risk of not being included in the company’s free upgrade plans, or being included but having to wait a number of years - and NBN Co is still banking on some customers being too impatient for the upgrade lottery or the wait.
In late September, NBN Co said it would spend $2.9 billion to make full fibre connections an option for about half the FTTN footprint. Users would need to order a higher speed plan to qualify.
Speaking before an NBN senate committee hearing, NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue confirmed that applicants under the company’s ‘technology choice’ user-pays upgrade program that were considering financing their own upgrade for an FTTN connection could “cease their application” if they wanted.
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Wednesday, 04 November 2020 10:12
Benefits to NBN broadband customers from pricing, service standard improvements, says ACCC
Lower entry-level prices and other proposed improvements to NBN wholesale arrangements are in the long term interests of Australian broadband customers, according to a new report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
The final report for the ACCC’s NBN Access Pricing and Wholesale Service Standards inquiries finds these new arrangements will promote the long term interests of broadband consumers, and balance the competing business interests of NBN Co with those of NBN access seekers.
NBN Co has agreed to implement the pricing and service standard improvements as part of its next Wholesale Broadband Agreement (WBA4).
“These improvements represent significant change from what was originally on offer when the ACCC’s access determination process started,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
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Tuesday, 03 November 2020 11:28
NBN Co behaving much as Telstra did during its monopoly days: Budde
The situation with the national broadband network at the present moment is similar to the time when Telstra was a monopoly and dictated terms to the rest of the market, well-known telecommunications analyst Paul Budde claims.
In a blog post, Budde said the the NBN Co, backed by government money, was flexing its muscles and getting the retail service providers to dance to its tune.
"The NBN Co is a government-backed wholesale monopoly and all the RSPs are at its mercy for access to the national fixed broadband infrastructure," he said.
"A monopoly is, of course, an ideal way to print money as the RSPs have no alternative whatsoever and there is no punishment for mistakes. The country suffered for more than 25 years due to the misuse of the telecommunications monopoly Telstra had for all those years."
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Enjoy!
David.
