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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Leading into the Easter Holidays we find things have slowed down a bit. Main discussion has been about vaccines, vaccination rates and side effects
Telehealth also percolating along as are cyber issues – especially at Nine, Eastern Health and Parliament!
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Free 24-hour GP Telehealth Service for People Affected by Floods (or Flood-impacted Communities)
by News Of The Area - Modern Media - April 1, 2021
THE free 24-hour Healthy North Coast GP Telehealth service has been established to support people affected by the severe weather and flooding on the NSW North Coast.
Residents in flood-affected areas who are not able to get an appointment with their regular GP can phone the service on 1800 931 158 to organise a phone or video appointment any day of the week.
Healthy North Coast GP Telehealth can provide:
- Information, advice, diagnosis and treatment
- Prescriptions sent to your local pharmacy
- Medical certificates
- Specialist referrals.
After their appointment, a care summary can be sent to the patient, their regular GP and to My Health Record.
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The 3.5 million reasons why the Australian Digital Health Agency should be happy
Even the agency's most ardent critic says it is winning when it comes to e-scripts
29th March 2021
The Australian Digital Health Agency loves a statistic.
We saw this best with the My Health Record.
But despite some of the numbers being astronomically large — such as the 2.7 billion documents uploaded to the system - often they weren’t too flattering when put in the correct context.
For instance, it turns out that most of those documents are no more than a dump of patients' MBS/PBS claims data rather than documents of immediate clinical value.
However, its latest stat, not related to My Health Record and slightly smaller in scale, does seem immediately impressive.
Some 95% of PBS-approved pharmacies are now accepting e-scripts.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/hotdoc-wins-the-clinics-pencs-covid-dash-live/42811
30 March 2021
HotDoc wins the clinics, PenCS COVID dash live
Clinical COVID-19 General Practice Respiratory Vaccination
Following the surprise win by HealthEngine of the government’s centralised back up booking solution for clinics without a booking system, major competitor HotDoc yesterday announced it was partnering with the federal government to provide a booking solution for GP-led respiratory clinics.
There are about 240 respiratory clinics across the country.
At the same time HotDoc claimed that in its first week of going live with its COVID booking module on its core system it had already processed over 130,000 bookings from patients for a COVID vaccination.
Given HotDoc services about half of all GP practices we might assume from this that there were somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 patient bookings made for vaccinations at GP practices in the first week of phase 1b.
This is more than double the first week capacity of general practice based on about 1,000 practices starting last week, with an average of 75 doses per practice (practices received between 50 and 400 doses for their first week). This means practices are now booking patients into the future on the expectation that they will receive supply as promised by the government.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/aussie-surgeons-embrace-telehealth
Aussie surgeons embrace telehealth
Use of online consults shot up to 96% during the pandemic, a survey of 700 shows
30th March 2021
Surgery may seem the least likely specialty to embrace telehealth, but an Australian survey has shown they widely adopted the practice during COVID-19.
Many plan to continue using it, especially if downsides relating to medicolegal factors, technical hitches and financial feasibility can be addressed, the authors say.
Regular use of telehealth shot up from 11% to 96% during the pandemic, according to a survey of almost 700 surgeons from around the country taken in August 2020.
Most reported using telehealth for all consultation types because of social distancing restrictions, including initial consultations (74% of surgeons), post‐operative follow‐up (82%) and for subsequent reviews (89%).
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How tapping into telehealth has extended our reach of services
By Marion Adeney-Steel, Clinical Lead Physiotherapist at Remedy
Healthcare
Tuesday, 30 March, 2021
COVID-19 has forced most industries to adapt and change, but the healthcare sector is one that will likely never return to a pre-COVID normal. Digital transformations that were pegged to take decades happened almost overnight due to the pandemic. Transformations such as advances in telehealth, particularly in video, changed the way healthcare providers, such as Remedy Healthcare, delivered and continue to deliver services.
Prior to COVID-19, Remedy Healthcare Allied Health Services operated exclusively in-person but the announcement of lockdown restrictions in March 2020 forced us to make a critical decision — find a way to consult with patients remotely or risk losing the ability to consult with and treat our patients altogether. With 350 healthcare professionals across nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry and exercise physiology, this was no easy task.
The solution to our dilemma — a situation I can imagine many other healthcare services across the country faced — was to shift to entirely remote consultations. This choice was vital for protecting the health of our clients and employees. Leading Australian video telehealth platform Coviu was integral in enabling us to continue servicing patients throughout lockdowns and beyond.
Golden moments: video telehealth helping patients thrive
The majority of my clients have taken to telehealth with ease. There have been very few patients who face internet connection challenges, and once connection is established, it is just like being in the same room. Even older Australians, many of whom have surprised us with their tech skills, are embracing video telehealth. Without the need to download any apps and with a virtual waiting room, it can feel just like an ordinary in-person appointment but without the inconvenience of travel.
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Western Sydney partnership to build one health ecosystem
Tuesday, 30 March, 2021
Pen CS, WentWest, the Western Sydney Primary Health Network and Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD) are collaborating to address health prevention and better chronic disease management through a one health system approach. This system, supported by the use of data, delivers transparency and accountability to deliver value-based care. The approach was discussed in the first session of the Talking HealthTech Autumn Summit 2021.
“Australia is experiencing a syndemic in chronic disease as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pen CS Chief Executive Edweana Wenkart said. “Poor management of chronic disease costs more than $320 million a year and COVID-19 has caused people to stay away from the healthcare system during the last year, which may result in serious illness.
“Pen CS has a long history of working with general practices and WentWest on projects which link data between primary and acute care. This success enables us to extend collaboration with Western Sydney LHD and patients to produce the next generation of integration,” she said.
WentWest Chief Executive Ray Messom explained that in the one health system approach, WentWest supports primary care, Western Sydney LHD delivers acute services and both cover various aspects of community health.
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https://www.miragenews.com/was-wirraka-maya-health-service-leads-way-in-537235/
March 31, 2021 8:04 am AEDT
WA’s Wirraka Maya Health Service leads way in providing better patient care
Australian Digital Health Agency
An Aboriginal community health service in Western Australia has produced record results in the use of technology to ensure better connected care for local patients.
Senior Medical Officer at Wirraka Maya Health Service in Port Hedland, WA, Dr Yolande Knight said: “We rely on My Health Record to keep us updated on patient pathology, imaging, medication, dispensing and history records.
“We find it helpful because a lot of our patients are transient, moving from one region to another, so it can be difficult to get their comprehensive files.
“We can see what other doctors have requested and performed, overcoming the delays waiting for records requested from other practices and providers. Equally, we can upload and share what we’ve done, so when the patient attends elsewhere, their record is current and available to other practitioners.
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Aussies exposed in massive China data leak
A massive leak of surveillance data held by the Chinese government has exposed Australian travellers to identity theft. The leak includes the names, birth dates and passport numbers of Australians in what is a massive leak of surveillance data.
Robert Potter, CEO and founder of online security firm Internet 2.0, told The Australian that travellers’ passports details were among the many categories of data that leaked from what he called a hastily built server.
There is no information about where the data is stored within China, but it relates to activity in the Shanghai region.
“It is essentially an open server that was found and studied extensively by ourselves and a bunch of journalists around public security bureau data that was being held in a cloud environment in China,” Mr Potter said.
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Improving safety of bionic devices
Physicists at the University of Sydney have developed a new method of testing if bionic devices, including pacemakers, cochlear hearing implants and bionic eyes are leak-proof, proposing new standards to ensure the devices can’t be penetrated by water.
If bionic medical devices are penetrated by moisture from bodily fluids and tissues, they could fail, which would put a patient’s health in jeopardy. While large leaks are easily detected during manufacturing, tiny leaks can escape detection.
Currently, implantable biomedical devices are moisture-tested via a helium leak test, where helium gas is inserted into the device and the most sensitive method for detecting gas, known as mass spectrometry technology, is used to see if any escapes. But scientists have now found a way to directly measure gaseous or liquid water leakage without assuming that moisture behaves like helium.
The new method, developed by Professor David McKenzie from the School of Physics at the University of Sydney, together with Dr Wenwen Lei from the National Measurement Institute, uses a standard leak based on the use of a stable polymer (poly ether ether ketone or “PEEK”) together with the most sensitive method for detecting the water, mass spectrometry. The unknown leak is quickly and reliably assessed against the standard leak that is supplied with a calibration.
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https://www.itwire.com/security/australians-warned-on-covid-19-vaccine-scams.html
Monday, 29 March 2021 10:24
Australians warned on Covid-19 vaccine scams
Scammers are using telephone calls, SMS messages and emails to take advantage of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout.
The scams are occuring as the telecommunications industry regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), issued a warning on Monday advising Australians to be vigilant and not to provide personal details over the phone or click on any links within an email or text message, before checking the source is legitimate.
The ACMA has issued a list of important facts about the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, including a warning that you should not be asked by anyone - other than your doctor or medical professional - to provide any personal or financial information over the phone, email or SMS to get access to, or information about, the vaccination.
In addition the ACMA notes that:
· The vaccination is free – you will not be asked to pay a fee to get vaccinated, to book an appointment or go on a waiting list.
· You cannot get early access to the vaccine. You must meet the Government’s eligibility criteria for the current phase.
· You will not need a prescription from a doctor to get the vaccine.
· The vaccine will not be sent to you in the mail.
· Self-vaccination and self-test kits are not legal to sell or advertise in Australia.
· Approved vaccination advertisements/information will not include any reference to a brand name or manufacturer.
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SMS subsidy extension
Following persistent RACGP advocacy, we welcome the news that
the SMS subsidy for electronic prescribing will be extended from 31 March 2021
to 30 June 2021.
The Department of Health and Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) plan to
work with the health sector to establish an ongoing model to support providing
electronic prescriptions to patients.
You should note that SMS costs are specific to electronic prescriptions sent to
patients on their mobile phones. Prescribers and dispensers can send electronic
prescriptions to patients via email or through mobile apps that don’t incur
these SMS costs. The Active Script List, once implemented across Australia,
will also provide health professionals a fee-free option.
For more information, contact the ADHA customer
care team at help@digitalhealth.gov.au
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Staff unable to access patient files after Eastern Health cyber attack
March 29, 2021 — 7.15pm
Staff at a major Melbourne health network are unable to access critical patient medical histories a fortnight after a ransomware attack that is also causing significant delays to elective surgeries.
Eastern Health, which operates Box Hill, Maroondah, Healesville and Angliss hospitals, was forced to shut down some of its IT systems following a widespread cyber attack that crippled its server on March 16.
Almost two weeks on from the incident, staff are still unable to access internal emails and IT systems and have reverted to using pen and paper and whiteboards for some patient management.
But concerns are now mounting about patient safety, with the cyber attack hindering doctors from being able to access hospital systems to retrieve patients’ medical histories.
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Tuesday, 30 March 2021 11:35
Many systems still offline at Eastern Health after 16 March attack
Melbourne's Eastern Health which was hit by a network attack on 17 March is still struggling to cope, with many systems still offline.
The organisation, which runs the Box Hill and Maroondah Hospitals, said in a statement on Monday that there had been significant disruption to its services.
"Extensive work continues to be undertaken with the support of the State and Federal Governments, alongside industry IT experts," the statement said.
The attack occurred on 16 March and was made public a couple of days later.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/suspected-cyberattack-hits-nine-20210328-p57epg
Suspected cyber attack hits Nine
Miranda Ward Media writer
Mar 28, 2021 – 12.47pm
Nine Entertainment was hit with major technical difficulties with speculation suggesting the media company was the target of a cyber attack, the effects of which may last beyond Sunday.
The suspected attack impaired Nine Entertainment’s North Sydney headquarters, resulting in Channel 9 being unable to broadcast from the location. Channel 9 is now broadcasting from its Melbourne studios.
The company, which owns The Australian Financial Review, did not confirm the difficulties are the result of a cyber attack.
“Nine is responding to technical issues affecting live broadcasting. At this stage we are working through the impacts across the network and will provide an update as we resolve the systems. NRL, 6pm News Bulletins and our evening schedule will proceed as normal,” a Nine spokesman said.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nine-entertainments-operations-disrupted-by-cyber-attack-562705
Nine Entertainment's operations disrupted by cyber attack
By Ry Crozier on Mar 28, 2021 7:08PM
Impacts Sydney live broadcasts and corporate systems.
Nine Entertainment’s broadcast and corporate business units were disrupted by a “cyber attack” early on Sunday morning, with the effects still being felt.
The company, which operates free-to-air stations such as Channel 9, confirmed the attack on Sunday evening, after earlier refusing to confirm or deny it had been hit.
The attack has taken down computer systems at Nine Sydney, which is located in North Sydney.
“Our IT teams are working around the clock to fully restore our systems which have primarily affected our broadcast and corporate business units,” Nine’s director of people and culture Vanessa Morley said in an all-staff email.
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https://www.itwire.com/security/nine-entertainment-hit-by-suspected-network-attack.html
Sunday, 28 March 2021 16:48
Nine Entertainment confirms it suffered network attack
By Sam Varghese
Nine Entertainment, a major media company in Australia which owns free-to air TV stations and newspapers, says it was hit by a network attack that has interfered with its operations on Sunday.
The company told its employees in a note that the attack had disrupted live broadcasts out of Nine Sydney.
All employees were advised to work from home as IT teams tackled the issue and worked through it.
The company said anyone working from the office would experience disruptions in the IT network.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nine-entertainment-warns-ransomware-recovery-will-take-time-562755
Nine Entertainment warns ransomware recovery 'will take time'
By Ry Crozier on Mar 29, 2021 11:16PM
Says attack now 'contained', but extent of infection still unclear.
Nine Entertainment warned Monday night that it would be some time before it could fully restore core systems and connectivity following a ransomware infection over the weekend.
Chief information and technology officer Damian Cronan said in a letter to staff that 9Technology - the company’s IT organisation - had contained the attack, mostly by isolating the company's corporate network from the rest of the group’s operations.
News of containment came after a report by The Australian Financial Review - which is owned by Nine - that pinned the infection on the MedusaLocker ransomware.
MedusaLocker first appeared in 2019 and attempts to establish persistence in targeted environments while also deleting any backups that it finds.
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Nine says it has isolated source of cyber attack
Paul Smith Technology editor
Updated Mar 29, 2021 – 10.55pm, first published at 5.31pm
Nine Entertainment says it is in a “state of containment” and has isolated the source of a damaging cyber attack that hit over the weekend.
The company’s chief information and technology officer Damian Cronan called the attack a “significant, sophisticated and complex” one.
“Our focus in the first 24 hours was on containment and we are confident our technology teams have isolated the attacker and the specific destructive activity that was initiated,” he said.
The suspected ransomware attack hit the company’s Sydney headquarters on Sunday, crippling some operations and leading to some programs not airing.
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Cyber agency looking at parliament ‘disruption’
The federal government is seeking advice from the cyber security agency over a “disruption” to the parliamentary network which forced the shutdown of emails over the weekend.
Federal MPs were contacted by text message on Friday regarding a “high priority” issue with communications.
They were also sent text messages throughout Saturday saying the Department of Parliamentary Services was “still investigating” the issue, with it only being rectified on Sunday afternoon.
“DPS are currently experiencing an outage to several ICT services including interrupted updates to email, calendar and contacts on smart phones and tablets,” said a text message sent to MPs on Saturday.
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Parliament hack could be ‘grey zone’ attack
Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie has raised the possibility that a crippling IT disruption at parliament could be the result of a malicious “grey zone” attack.
The nation’s cyber authorities are working to establish the cause of the outage that left the MPs and staff unable to use their emails since the weekend.
The Department of Parliamentary Services began unlocking the accounts of MPs and staff on Monday, saying full access to emails and calendars and contacts would be progressively reintroduced.
“Support teams are continuing to investigate with urgency,” MPs were told by text message.
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https://www.itwire.com/security/redirection-scams-soar-as-businesses-lose-%2414-million-plus.html
Tuesday, 30 March 2021 11:03
Redirection scams soar as businesses lose $14 million-plus
Australian businesses reported over $14 million in losses to Scamwatch due to payment redirection scams last year, and average losses so far in 2021 are more than five times higher compared to average losses in the same period in 2020, according to the ACCC.
Total losses are much higher as these scams are reported to a range of different organisations, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Scamwatch service.
The ACCC says that in a payment redirection scam, also known as business email compromise scams, scammers impersonate a business or its employees via email and request that money, which usually is owed to the legitimate business, is sent to a fraudulent account.
“Payment redirection scams impact businesses across many industries, including real estate, construction, law, recruitment, and universities,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.
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Can artificial intelligence help reduce the rate of bowel cancer?
By Andrew Currie, CEO of Cura Day Hospitals Group
Tuesday, 30 March, 2021
It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie. Computers scrubbing in on medical procedures? But the future is, in fact, now.
In mid-November last year, at Chermside Day Hospital, our gastroenterologists commenced a trial of the latest endoscopy equipment utilising artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnosis.
Our northside Brisbane hospital deployed the AI technology ENDO-AID CADe, a computer-assisted imaging system designed to detect early signs of bowel cancer. This followed the mid-October European launch, which aimed to improve clinical outcome and key colonoscopy quality indicators such as polyp and adenoma detection rate.
Gastroenterologist and therapeutic colonoscopist Dr David Hewett, who is also an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine, contributed videos to Olympus to develop an algorithm to detect polyps. The technology is similar to facial recognition with an iPhone or camera, so it flashes and tells you whether there’s a lesion on the screen.
The statistics
According to a report published by Cancer Australia, the estimated number of new cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed in 2020 in Australia was 15,494. Of those, 8340 were men and 7154 were women.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/558975/Progress-on-nHIP.htm
Progress on nHIP
Wednesday, 31 March 2021
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
The national Health Information
Platform (nHIP) programme business case has been considered by Cabinet for
potential inclusion in the 2021 Budget.
“If approved we will have made the case for change and investment and we will
then be seeking money in tranches,” deputy director-general data and digital
Shayne Hunter said at the Auckland Digital Health Summit in Auckland on March
26.
The programme as first envisaged has been delayed by 12 months due to the
impact of Covid-19, but good progress has been made and with budget approval
the Ministry of Health plans to start work in earnest from the middle of this
year.
Hunter told attendees that the health system needs a mindset shift from seeing
IT as a cost, to an enabler for system change and better health and wellbeing
outcomes. It will be important for the coming reforms to the health system.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/558345/Southern-Cross-rolls-out-electronic-clinical-notes.htm
Southern Cross rolls out electronic clinical notes
Sunday, 28 March 2021
NEWS
Southern Cross Healthcare is
rolling out electronic clinical notes across its hospital network.
The implementation is part of an overall patient record upgrade by Southern
Cross Healthcare, with the goal of having a paperless patient record by the end
of 2022.
The next phase of the programme will involve rolling out e-vitals and developing
a medication management solution.
Roll-out began in December 2020 and nearly 200,000 notes have been logged
electronically across Southern Cross’ 15 wholly owned and joint venture
hospitals. The organisation estimates that once fully deployed, more than one
million individual clinical notes will be captured and viewed online each
year.
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Tuesday, 30 March 2021 01:26
Consumers get better speeds, access to streaming services, says ACCC
Consumers
on NBN fixed-line connections experienced strong speed performance in December
last year, with retail service providers achieving between 85.0 and 98.9% of
maximum plan speeds across all fixed-line plans in the busy evening hours of 7-11pm
in December 2020, according to the latest Measuring Broadband Australia report
from the competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission.
According to the ACCC’s twelfth quarterly Measuring Broadband Australia report, in December consumers received the highest overall speeds since the ACCC began monitoring broadband performance in 2018, and internet service providers delivered a higher percentage of maximum plan speeds in the busy evening hours.
ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said the December 2020 result is slightly higher than the previous report, which tested October 2020.
“In
December, consumers received the highest overall speeds since the ACCC began
monitoring broadband performance in 2018, and internet service providers
delivered a
higher percentage of maximum plan speeds in the busy evening hours,”
Commissioner Brakey said.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/nbn-pencils-in-may-24-for-restarting-new-hfc-connections/
NBN pencils in May 24 for restarting new HFC connections
Almost four months will have passed since NBN stopped connecting new HFC premises to its network due to supply constraints.
By Chris Duckett | March 30, 2021 -- 04:21 GMT (15:21 AEDT) | Topic: Networking
The company responsible for the National Broadband Network said on Tuesday it has begun to receive new HFC modems that will allow it to restart connecting new premises to the HFC network.
At the start of February, NBN said it would stop connecting new HFC customers due to supply chain constraints. It added that vulnerable customers would continue to be connected, as would customers moving into a premise already with NBN over HFC and those needing repairs and replacements on existing equipment.
To that end, NBN said it had connected 230 vulnerable customers, and reconnected 47,000 premises with HFC that were disconnected from the network or where no legacy services were available.
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https://www.itwire.com/open-sauce/fight-over-nbn-plan-costs-set-to-heat-up-again.html
Author's Opinion
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of iTWire.
Tuesday, 30 March 2021 16:36
Fight over NBN plan costs set to heat up again
Recent comments from telecommunications providers Telstra and Aussie Broadband about their decreasing profits from NBN sales underline how short-sighted the Labor government was to keep the expenditure for the NBN off-budget and insist that it be repaid by the company set up to create and run the network.
Not that the Coalition is any better; it just continued with the same practice.
The comments came in response to the NBN Co's putting out a new pricing review. Aussie Broadband chief executive Phillip Britt called the proposals disappointing and Telstra described them as inadequate, while the head of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Teresa Corbin, warned that consumers may ditch the NBN if the price was not right.
The NBN Co's pricing models are driven by just one desire: to achieve average revenue per user of $52. That, the company said many moons ago, would enable it to break even.
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https://www.itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/nbn-co-restarting-hfc-sales.html
Tuesday, 30 March 2021 12:22
NBN Co restarting HFC sales
Cable modems are once again being delivered to NBN Co, and the company has announced it will resume orders for HFC services from 24 May 2021.
As reported in February, NBN Co had to stop accepting orders for new HFC services due to a shortage of cable modems.
Modems still in stock were used to connect premises occupied by medically vulnerable customers, and more than 230 such customers were connected since 2 February 2021.
NBN Co says it will continue to offer priority service to vulnerable customers.
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Monday, 29 March 2021 17:01
NBN business satellite services: more coverage, lower prices
NBN Co is preparing changes to its business satellite services that will increase coverage to 100% of the Australian mainland and surrounding large islands, as well as significantly reducing some wholesale charges.
Scheduled for 29 July 2021, NBN BSS beam coverage will increase from 93% to 100%, expanding access across the east coast of the Australian mainland, the west coast of Tasmania and large surrounding islands such as Christmas Island, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island, NBN Co announced today.
And retailers "that engage in extended contract terms" with NBN Co for the BSS Access Bandwidth Service (ABS) Layer 3 dedicated bandwidth product will see a price reduction of approximately 40%.
This is designed to deliver consistent wholesale speeds of up to 50/13Mbps.
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NBN Co says network 'stress test' during Covid grounds for $78m in bonuses
By Ry Crozier on Mar 29, 2021 12:52PM
Chair lauds "extraordinary" performance.
NBN Co chair Dr Ziggy Switkowski has defended the payment of almost $78 million in bonuses to staff last financial year, arguing the network survived a major “real-time stress test” that was worthy of reward.
Appearing before senate estimates on Friday last week, Switkowski - who chairs the company’s remuneration committee - said the network and the team building and operating it had delivered an “extraordinary outcome” for Australian internet users during the pandemic.
“The view that NBN Co took through the committee and the board was the public interest was best served by our building and managing a first-rate network, having consumers confident in its performance, making sure the network was resilient, and ensuring that it was affordable, even as people began to work from home and home-schooling kicked in,” Switkowski said of the decision taken to award bonuses.
“That’s what drove us.”
Switkowski said it was one thing to build the network but another to properly stress test it.
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NBN Co asked by Telstra, Vocus and Optus to reveal its flat pricing model
By Ry Crozier on Mar 29, 2021 7:40AM
As open and frank discussion about internet prices and economics sought.
NBN Co is already under substantial industry pressure to release modelling it has done for a single, flat wholesale price structure that it has not previously discussed or shared with internet providers.
Retail service providers (RSPs) have consistently asked NBN Co charge a single, flat price per user, in place of the current charging model, which has both fixed and variable components.
The variable component of the current structure in particular - a bandwidth charge called connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) - is universally unpopular.
The more customers use their internet, the more CVC a retailer has to buy. That drives internet prices higher or eats into retail margins if RSPs try to absorb the fluctuations.
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Enjoy!
David.
