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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Seems there has been a sudden increase in NBN news – driven in part by the Senate Estimates hearings.
Otherwise lots on vaccination systems and registers.
Also some miscellaneous stuff you will have to scroll down to browse!
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https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/coronavirus/my-health-record-issues-prevent-patients-from-getting-covid-vaccine/news-story/66261fd96a85d622515f02567cf08805
My Health Record issues prevent patients from getting COVID vaccine
Australia’s troubled vaccine rollout has hit another problem as patients struggle to prove they are eligible for the vaccine.
Sue Dunlevy - National Health Reporter
March 27, 2021 - 8:06AM
News Corp Australia Network
It costs taxpayers $2 billion but the My Health Record is proving useless when it comes to helping people prove they have a medical condition that prioritises them for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Two million Australians who have an underlying medical condition are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine under phase 1b which began this week and many will be unable to get it at their regular GP.
Only 1000 GP’s are currently approved to provide the vaccine and one in three GPs decided not to apply to deliver the vaccines at all.
This means patients will need to provide some kind of proof to an unfamiliar medical practice they have a condition that qualifies them for a priority vaccination.
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Government eyes online vaccination double-booking threat
John Davidson Columnist
Mar 23, 2021 – 12.00am
The government has vowed to stamp out any gaming of its just-launched vaccination booking system, after software industry insiders warned it could descend into chaos if too many Australians double- and triple-book in their desperation to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.
Executives at software companies that helped build the booking platform warned Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout could fail if too many people clog up clinics’ vaccination schedules with online bookings they never plan to use.
It is a looming problem due to a decision to adopt a decentralised model using multiple software platforms.
But the Department of Health said it was aware of the risk of multibooking and had plans in place if it became too widespread.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/better-data-left-up-in-the-air/42307
22 March 2021
Better data left up in the AIR
COVID-19 Government Policy Vaccination
New legislation may require that all vaccinations be reported to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), but immunisation researchers fear the register still fails to record relevant data.
Since the beginning of the month, it has been mandatory for all vaccination providers to upload every immunisation to the AIR, including the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.
The AIR was created in 2016, and reporting vaccines has always been a discretionary duty.
In a Perspective piece in the MJA, childhood immunisation researcher Professor Jane Tuckerman and colleagues called for additional information on medical risk factors to be collected by the AIR.
“Identifying whether someone has medical risk factors helps determine whether they need to be recommended specifically [for a vaccine] or if they fall into an at-risk category,” she told TMR.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/immunisation-register-needs-fix-record-medical-risk-factors
Immunisation register 'needs fix' to record medical risk factors
Recent events including COVID-19 have exposed the limitations of the register, immunisation advocates say
22nd March 2021
The usefulness of the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) is flawed by the inability of providers to record patients’ medical risk factors including pregnancy, researchers say.
They’ve called on the government to upgrade the AIR to enable ‘essential’ recording of underlying medical conditions that qualify patients for targeted vaccination programs — and potentially to pay GPs for providing the extra information.
Reporting influenza vaccination to the AIR has been mandatory since 1 March and reporting all other National Immunisation Program vaccines will become mandatory from July this year.
But AIR forms include no fields in which to record whether patients are pregnant or are priority groups for vaccination because of medical risk factors, unless they are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
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Getting the right jab to the right people at the right time
By Paul Soong, Regional Director ANZ, BluJay
Thursday, 11 March, 2021
The light is finally at the end of the tunnel as Australia begins vaccinating its population against COVID-19. The Pfizer vaccine is already going into people’s arms, and the AstraZeneca vaccine is slated to begin imminently.
Getting the vaccines to the Australian population comes with huge supply chain challenges. This is a big country — one where ice cream melts in the shade in some locations and around a quarter of all produce is thrown away due to temperature breaches during distribution.
According to the RACGP, in the five years leading up to 2019 (the most recent period for which figures are available), more than 12,000 vaccine cold chain breaches were recorded, resulting in 747,000 destroyed vaccines, or 1.65% of the total distributed. Those vaccines were worth an estimated $25.9 million.
Clearly, getting COVID-19 vaccines into the community is a big task, particularly with the Pfizer vaccine, which requires storage at minus 70°C — around the temperature of Antarctica during winter. Australia has cold chain logistics, but prior to the Pfizer vaccine being introduced, no vaccines needed to be stored in such frigid temperatures.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/stormy-start-for-phase-1b/42411
23 March 2021
Stormy start for phase 1b
Clinical COVID-19 General Practice Vaccination
Posted by Holly Payne
This week marks the start of GP-led COVID-19 vaccinations, with roughly 1000 practices providing immunisations – but the much-anticipated event has not gone off without a hitch.
With floods affecting areas of New South Wales and Queensland, some GPs have not yet received their batch of vaccines, despite having patients booked.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd said in a press conference that delays due to floods were “inevitable”, citing concerns over safety for both delivery drivers and clinic staff.
Meanwhile, HealthEngine – the agency contracted by the Commonwealth to build a national COVID-19 booking system – has responded to an article in The Guardian which claimed that patients could use the system to book their first and second jabs just days apart.
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ADHA takes 'open-minded' approach to My Health Record clinical information system
The Australian Digital Health Agency is offering software developers financial support and the chance to workshop their plans.
By Aimee Chanthadavong | March 26, 2021 -- 02:18 GMT (13:18 AEDT) | Topic: Innovation
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) said it wishes to take an "open-minded" approach in its search for software providers to help further enhance the My Health Record (MHR) functionality in the clinical information systems (CISs) to encourage more private specialists to use the platform.
"One of the challenges in developing specialist-centric My Health Record functionality in CISs is that specialists comprise an extremely diverse user group. Different types of specialists are likely to have different information needs, and follow somewhat different workflows in accessing and sharing patient information. This industry offer has been designed to help meet that challenge," the agency responsible for the My Health Record said.
In its request for tender, the ADHA outlined it would provide financial assistance to software developers to participate in a "collaborative design exercise" with the agency, which would revolve around a "one-on-one kick-off workshop" scheduled for early May.
The workshop will be an opportunity for software providers to submit a planning document containing release cycle timeframes and resource allocation plans, the ADHA said.
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Law enforcement used encryption-busting laws 11 times last year
By Justin Hendry on Mar 19, 2021 4:09PM
NSW Police issued seven technical assistance requests.
Australia's controversial encryption-busting powers were used 11 times by law enforcement agencies in their first full-year of operation, the Department of Home Affairs has revealed.
The figure was disclosed in the 2019-20 Telecommunications (Inception and Access) Act annual report [pdf], released on Thursday.
It is the second report to be released since the Assistance and Access Act gave rise to a suite of new powers such as technical assistance requests (TARs) in December 2018.
TARs allow agencies to seek voluntary assistance from service providers to provide data or assistance during the course of an investigation.
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OAIC asks govt to require de-identification in data sharing laws
By Justin Hendry on Mar 24, 2021 6:34AM
Greater privacy protections needed.
Australia’s privacy watchdog has urged the government to introduce additional safeguards in proposed public sector data sharing laws that would require agencies to share only de-identified data if feasible.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) made the comments in its submission [pdf] to the senate review into the Data and Availability and Transparency Bill, which is currently before parliament.
The bill aims to make it easier for the public sector to share data within government and across the private sector for the purposes of delivering government services and supporting research and development.
If passed, agencies will be able to share personal information and sensitive data they collect, as long as it isn’t “especially sensitive data handled under other legislation such as My Health Record data, COVIDSafe app data and national security data."
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https://www.innovationaus.com/ama-raises-alarm-over-data-sharing-plan/
AMA raises alarm over data sharing plan
Denham Sadler
Senior Reporter
24 March 2021
The Australian Medical Association has sounded the alarm over the federal government’s flagship new data-sharing scheme, warning there are no minimum privacy protections and that private health information could be shared with insurance firms.
The government introduced the Data Availability and Transparency Act to Parliament in December last year, after nearly three years of development and consultation. The legislation facilitates a significant expansion of the sharing of public sector data between agencies and private organisations, sometimes without consent.
It will provide a “new path” for the sharing of this data that is currently blocked by secrecy provisions or other laws and will see far more identified data be shared among agencies and departments, and for de-identified data be shared with universities and think tanks, among other organisations.
There will be no opt-out options from the data-sharing scheme for individuals, and consent will be required unless it is “unreasonable or impracticable to obtain”.
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New boost in Australia’s race to create world-leading medical devices
Tom McIlroy Political reporter
Mar 24, 2021 – 12.00am
Australia’s race to create world-leading medical devices suitable for human trials and early-stage manufacturing is being boosted by the Morrison government’s health technology fund.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced grants of $3.2 million for new partnership projects to development innovative medical devices and technology, part of the Coalition’s $45 million BioMedTech Horizons initiative.
Well-developed projects that can be completed within 12 months are eligible for the latest funding round, designed to help creators progress towards commercialisation of Australian-developed ideas.
Mark Kendall, founder and chief executive of microwearable device company WearOptimo, has received funding to help manufacture the next generation of wearable sensor health technology.
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Virtual collaboration room provides immersive transplant training
Friday, 19 March, 2021
A collaboration between X2O Media and TransMedics Inc. has seen the successful installation of the X2O Collaboration Room — an immersive virtual training environment for global clinical users of the life-saving Organ Care System (OCS) technology.
TransMedics — a medical technology company transforming organ transplantation — selected X2O Media — a global provider of virtual collaboration technology for enterprises — to provide a purpose-built virtual collaboration room. X2O Media collaborated with integrator partner IMT Global to install the custom-built hybrid virtual training room, which enables TransMedics to provide continuous high-quality education and training to its worldwide audience of transplant surgeons and clinicians.
“We believe that the X2O technology provides [a more] immersive experience for our clinical users and collaborators than traditional web-conferencing platforms,” TransMedics CEO Dr Waleed Hassanein said. “More importantly, having the X2O Collaboration Room environment enables us to deliver our training without travel restrictions of the global pandemic, and in a more efficient manner for our team and our users.”
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Blind and low-vision Australians shut out of Covid vaccine finder website
Exclusive: Vision Australia slams the federal government, saying it’s ‘particularly frustrating’ given the time it had to prepare
Fri 26 Mar 2021 03.30 AEDT Last modified on Fri 26 Mar 2021 03.32 AEDT
Blind and low-vision Australians are being shut out of the Covid-19 vaccination process because the government’s eligibility checker and clinic finder website fail to meet basic web accessibility standards, according to Australia’s biggest provider of low-vision services.
Vision Australia has slammed the federal government for the failing, saying it is “particularly frustrating” given the time it has had to prepare for the vaccine rollout.
Last week, the government launched a website that checks a person’s eligibility for the vaccine and links them with nearby general practitioner clinics participating in the rollout.
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East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust to deploy Patientrack and Smartpage at all five hospital sites
Highlights:
- Alcidion has signed a deal with East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust for Patientrack and Smartpage to be deployed at all 5 hospital sites, representing a total contract value (TCV) of $2.2M
- Alcidion now counts 21 NHS Trusts as customers
Melbourne, Australia – Alcidion Group Limited
(ASX:ALC) is pleased to announce that it has signed a contract with East
Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (East Lancashire Trust) for Patientrack (now
Miya Observations and Assessments) and Smartpage, valued at $2.2M over 5 years.
East Lancashire Trust is a large, integrated health care organisation of 8,000
staff, providing acute, secondary and community healthcare for the 530,000
residents of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.
Patientrack will be used by nurses as they carry out crucial observations,
integrating directly with devices used at the bedside to capture patients’
vital signs, automatically calculating a patient’s early warning score.
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Aus Gov sets new target of July 2022 to leave Global Switch data center
Various departments missed Sep 2020 goal, but on track for new exit date
March 23, 2021
By Dan Swinhoe
The Australian Government has set a new target date of July 2022 for federal agencies to leave Global Switch’s Sydney data center.
While several departments have left the facility, many, including Defence, failed to meet the previous migration target of September 2020 and still have data in the Chinese-owned company’s data center.
First reported by ITNews, Home Affairs boss Mike Pezzullo told a senate estimates hearing this week that most remaining agencies, including the Department of Home Affairs, had agreed to depart the facility in Sydney by that time. He added that agencies undergoing migrations have put in ‘safeguards’ to protect the data that is yet to be moved.
“Agreements have been reached with each participating agency to enable exit by the end of financial [year] 2021-22,” Pezzullo said on Monday, adding that “mitigations have been put in place by each agency” in the interim.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/govt-agencies-agree-to-leave-global-switch-data-centre-by-2022-562491
Govt agencies agree to leave Global Switch data centre by 2022
By Justin Hendry on Mar 23, 2021 1:01PM
Home Affairs reveals new deadline.
The bulk of federal government agencies continuing to store data in Global Switch’s Sydney-based data centre are now expected to exit the facility by July 2022, almost two years later than first planned.
Home Affairs boss Mike Pezzullo told a senate estimates hearing last night that most remaining agencies, including the Department of Home Affairs, had agreed to depart the Chinese-owned facility by that time.
The department runs the multi-agency program management office that is co-ordinating the government’s exit from Global Switch, which had been expected to occur by September 2020.
Agencies to agree to leave by July 2022 are the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Digital Health Agency and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
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Software Developer Community Announcement
Secure Messaging v1.1
The Australian Digital Health Agency has updated the Secure Messaging end product to reflect the following changes:
- The introduction of FHIR provider directories as a replacement for Endpoint Location Services; and
- The discontinuation of the previous Conformance Assessment Scheme for Secure Message Delivery
To support the introduction of FHIR provider directories, this release:
- Describes how HL7 v2 addressing components are supported by the Australian Provider Directory FHIR Implementation Guide;
- Provides guidance and clarity on how directory identifiers and secure message addressing interact; and
- Introduces the new Use of HL7 v2 MDM message for CDA package v2.4 to update and replace the previous Clarification on Messaging and CDA Packaging v1.4 from the Clinical Documents end product.
The previous Conformance Assessment Scheme for Secure Message Delivery relied on NATA-accredited testing laboratories. As no NATA-accredited testing laboratories continue to offer testing for Secure Message Delivery, this Conformance Assessment Scheme is being withdrawn, and the Agency will work with industry to develop a new scheme.
For a more detailed description of the changes, please refer to the Release Note.
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Software Developer Community Announcement
My
Health Record B2B Gateway Services v2.0
& My Health Record Overviews,
Guides and Conformance Material v1.5
The Australian Digital Health Agency has updated the following specifications:
1. My Health Record B2B Gateway Services v2.0
2.
My Health Record Overviews, Guides and Conformance Material v1.5
(former name
“PCEHR Overviews, Guides and Conformance Material”)
Scope
This release updates the conformance points, for new implementations, related to the TLS Security Profile from the Standards Australia E-health Web Services Profiles [ATS 5820-2010]. All web service invocations will need to support TLS Protocol version 1.2. Previous versions, including TLS 1.0 and 1.1, shall not be used on the following specifications:
1. My Health Record B2B Gateway Services v2.0
·
Document Exchange Service Technical Specification
(Note: A minor
update has been made to XDSDocumentEntry Document Type and Class Code value set
for Australian Organ Donor Register in this specification.)
· View Service Technical Service Specification
2. My Health Record Overviews, Guides and Conformance Material v1.5
·
My Health Record - Implementation Guide v1.4
(former name “PCEHR
Implementation Guide”)
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Cardiac patients in Tasmania can now seek digital rehabilitation
By using an app, Tasmania’s heart patients will be able to virtually rehabilitate from cardiac episodes.
By Roy Chiang
March 25, 2021 01:47 AM
Digital health group Cardihab has partnered with Tasmania’s health department and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, an aeromedical organisation, to roll out its Cardihab app in public hospitals throughout the state. The app will enable patients in Tasmania with heart disease to undergo rehabilitation programmes and receive medical advice at home through weekly phone calls and video consultations.
WHY IT MATTERS
Cardiac disease is the leading cause of death in Tasmania, with its fatality rate higher than the national average by 9.8 deaths per 100,000 people. A study by RFDS researchers also showed that Australians living in rural areas are 1.6 times more susceptible to be hospitalised for coronary heart disease and 1.3 times more likely to die as compared to their counterparts who reside in urban developments. RFDS also released another statement stating that four out of five deaths resulting from premature cardiac disease could be prevented if there were cardiac rehabilitation services available in rural areas.
THE LARGER TREND
COVID-19 has accelerated how healthcare organisations can leverage virtual care to keep people safe during a highly contagious pandemic. Increasingly, healthcare providers have also been coming up with innovative solutions to care for patients in rural areas who may not be able to access health services easily. In the United States for example, Abbott updated its app-based neuromodulation platform with remote programming to enable in-app live video conversations with chronic pain and movement disorder patients, as well as prescribe new settings for their neuromodulation therapies from afar.
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Monday, 22 March 2021 08:48
Many systems still offline at Eastern Health after network attack
Melbourne's Eastern Health is still experiencing what it describes as "significant impacts" due to a network attack that it announced last Wednesday.
In a statement on Friday, the organisation, which includes the Box Hill and Maroondah Hospitals, said it would contact patients as required as many of its systems were still offline.
"Eastern Health is still experiencing significant impacts related to the cyber incident," the statement said. The attack was said to have come to light last Tuesday.
"Thank you to our staff for their handwork continuing to deliver patient-centred care with many of our systems remaining off-line.
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https://www.itwire.com/security/eastern-health-limping-back-to-normal,-ransomware-may-be-cause.html
Tuesday, 23 March 2021 11:52
Eastern Health limping back to normal, ransomware may be cause
Melbourne's Eastern Health, which runs a number of healthcare units including the Box Hill and Maroondah Hospitals, says it is slowly recovering from a network attack that it reported last Wednesday.
In a statement on Monday, the organisation did not, however, say anything about the nature of the attack.
But a security industry source told iTWire that while there was no definite indication yet as to the cause, Windows ransomware was by far the most likely suspect.
There is some logic to this claim, with the number of ransomware attacks on healthcare organisations in the US rising by 60% in 2020 over the number in 2019. There were 92 individual attacks that affected more than 600 separate clinics, hospitals, and organizations and more than 18 million patient records.
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https://digitalhealthfest.com.au/
Digital Health Festival
1-2 June 2021
AUSTRALIA'S GIANT FESTIVAL OF DIGITAL HEALTH
Technology is revolutionising health care and COVID-19 has only accelerated the pace of innovation and adoption. Digital health solutions are driving improvements in service delivery, clinical outcomes and patient experience. Consumers are demanding greater choice, more personalised care and a larger role in health management.
Digital Health Festival is a unique virtual festival featuring the people and technologies that are transforming healthcare. It is a forum where those involved in clinical practice, management and infrastructure in hospitals, primary care, community pharmacies and the whole health value chain explore the future of healthcare.
6 CONFERENCE TRACKS - 60 EXPERT PRESENTERS
Join thousands of health professionals in a thrilling ride through the digital health landscape. Our state-of-the-art virtual conference platform delivers two days of packed content for delegates to consume live or on-demand, for one low price.
- The future of medicine
- The digital hospital of the future
- Telehealth – where will the technology take us?
- Can psychology be digitalised?
- What’s hot in US Health Tech?
And much more!
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Uni team on the verge of next tech revolution
In a laboratory at the Australian National University physicist Andrew Horsley believes that he and his team are creating the next technological revolution — a quantum computer which you can hold in the palm of your hand.
Dr Horsley, the CEO of the company Quantum Brilliance which was spun out from the ANU two years ago, says that quantum computing is on the edge of a revolution similar to the one which classical computing had in the 1960s when big mainframe computers were rapidly overtaken by microprocessors, leading to the tiny devices we carry around today.
He and his team use painstakingly fabricated synthetic diamonds to create the qubits, or bits of quantum information, which are at the heart of a quantum computer.
The most revolutionary thing about their work is that — unlike other quantum computers which operate at near the absolute zero temperature of minus 273 degrees and require a roomful of equipment to keep them going — it will operate at room temperature and can fit in a lunch box.
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Taking new medical devices from discovery to manufacture
From today, Australia’s best and brightest researches can apply for the fourth and final round of the $45 million BioMedTech Horizons (BMTH) program, which has been successful in bringing cutting edge medical devices to market.
Date published: 24 March 2021
Media type: Media release
Audience: General public
From today, Australia’s best and brightest researches can apply for the fourth and final round of the $45 million BioMedTech Horizons (BMTH) program, which has been successful in bringing cutting edge medical devices to market.
The Australian Government, through the BMTH program, offers $3.2 million in partnership projects to help get innovative new medical devices to the next steps of starting human trials and early stage manufacturing.
The funding is available for up to four well-developed projects that can be completed within a year, and will see devices take the final steps towards commercialisation.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/nbn-hunting-for-long-term-solution-to-lightning-frying-fttc-equipment/
NBN hunting for long-term solution to lightning frying FttC equipment
Australian government-owned broadband wholesaler has a series of temporary measures in place as it looks for a permanent solution to fried FttC modems and units.
By Chris Duckett | March 26, 2021 -- 05:42 GMT (16:42 AEDT) | Topic: Networking
The company responsible for the National Broadband Network told Senate Estimates on Friday it was looking for a permanent solution to lightning strikes taking out fibre to the curb (FttC) equipment.
"Over the last few months, through some significant storm events, we saw higher-than-expected fault numbers on our FTTC network in particular geographies," NBN CEO Stephen Rue said.
"We quickly set up a group within our engineering team to investigate and we also retrieved damaged devices for analysis. What we are finding is that this is a complex issue; it is not a simple case of lightning travelling down a wire and tripping a fuse."
Rue said the issue was occurring when lightning struck the ground and created a voltage difference between the ground and neutral connections in premises that were connected via an FttC distribution point.
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NBN Co has modelled flat-rate prices but not shared them with anyone
By Ry Crozier on Mar 26, 2021 10:53AM
Says the change is "possible".
NBN Co has internally modelled a simple flat-rate wholesale price for each of its speed tiers but hasn’t shared it with internet providers, saying it needs to be tailored for individual providers before doing so.
The existence of an internal mathematical model is of substantial interest in the context of the current NBN pricing review, and could be used to substantially drive change sought by the industry.
However, that depends if the modelling is ever released to retail service providers (RSPs).
After repeated questions, chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb told senate estimates that it is “possible” that NBN Co could meet its future revenue and average revenue per user (ARPU) goals with a flat wholesale price structure.
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Friday, 26 March 2021 01:03
Consumers may walk away from NBN if the price isn’t right: ACCAN
Australia’s consumer voice on communications issues, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), has cautioned that consumers may seek alternative home broadband solutions, like 5G, if NBN prices are not addressed.
“As home broadband alternatives like 5G become more accessible in more areas across the country, NBN Co is going to have to demonstrate to cost-conscious consumers why they should choose an NBN service over these alternatives,” said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin (pictured).
“This
means that they’re going to have to provide more competitive wholesale prices
if they want to keep customers in these areas.”
The comments come as part of the peak body’s submission to NBN Co’s pricing
review, which asks the telecommunications industry and the consumer voice for
their thoughts on future pricing.
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Thursday, 25 March 2021 15:50
NBN pricing review 'inadequate' says Aussie Broadband boss
Aussie Broadband managing director Phillip Britt said he is disappointed by the proposals emerging from the NBN 2021 pricing review.
According to Britt, the proposals were "not even remotely close" to Aussie Broadband's hopes.
The key problem is that they do not reflect Australia's increasing demand for data.
"Due to the significant growth the industry has experienced in the last 12 months, and the fact that usage has not returned to pre-COVID levels, we believe that the proposed changes are wholly inadequate to support the needs of the RSP's and ultimately, Australian broadband users," said Britt.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-uses-stockpiled-hfc-ntds-to-work-down-order-backlog-562572
NBN Co uses stockpiled HFC NTDs to work down order backlog
By Ry Crozier on Mar 26, 2021 6:55AM
Sales pause officially remains in place.
NBN Co has used some of its stockpile of hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network termination devices to fulfil several thousand orders delayed by a stop-sell it announced last month.
iTnews understands the company used some of its network termination device (NTD) inventory, which was being held for medically vulnerable customers and customers relocating premises, to clear some backlogged orders instead.
The move means that NBN Co now expects the three-month “pause” on fulfilling new HFC orders to impact about 39,000 orders, instead of the 50,000 initially expected.
However, this figure is dependent on NBN Co being able to replenish its supply of devices by late May or early June, as it is targeting to do.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/telstra-warns-nbn-co-will-hit-55-arpu-by-the-end-of-fy23-562614
Telstra warns NBN Co will hit $55 ARPU 'by the end of FY23'
By Ry Crozier on Mar 25, 2021 1:31PM
Well above even its own forecasts.
NBN Co's average revenue per residential user could hit $55 in FY23 if short-term price changes go through, $6 per user more than even the company’s “ambitious” forecasts, according to new modelling by Telstra.
The number is contained in Telstra’s submission to NBN Co’s wholesale price review, which iTnews has partially obtained.
Telstra - like other telcos - is underwhelmed by NBN Co’s latest price review proposals, which will almost certainly lead to higher retail prices for internet users.
How much higher is a key question, but Telstra said its models show planned price changes will produce a far bigger windfall for NBN Co than expected.
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https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/nbn-co-overshoots-funding-target-20210325-p57dwg
NBN Co overshoots funding target
Mar 25, 2021 – 4.05pm
Higher than projected spending last financial year meant NBN Co overshot its yearly spending target before a government backflip significantly elevated the cost of the national infrastructure project.
Initially slated to cost $51 billion, the Morrison government in September added another $4.5 billion so the publicly-owned company could connect 10 million households and businesses with high-speed fibre.
It was a major reversal on plans to only run the high-speed fibre to street-based nodes, which would branch out to homes via copper wiring. Further, the government believes it will boost GDP by $6.4 billion a year by 2024 as more people work from home during and after the pandemic.
But the government did so without disclosing that NBN Co exceeded peak spending projections for the 2020 financial year.
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NBN price rise ‘inevitable’
NBN’s current pricing proposals are leaving lower income Australians behind according to telco executives, who say radical change is needed to stop an otherwise inevitable price rise.
Submissions were due Wednesday for NBN Co‘s pricing review, with the government-run company flagging a potential price hike and maintaining its controversial CVC charges, which determine broadband capacity for retailers.
Executives from Telstra, Optus, TPG and Vocus all say NBN Co‘s review doesn’t go far enough and will lead to poor outcomes for consumers. The telcos are calling on the company to scrap the CVC pricing model and embark on more significant reform.
NBN Co, which is trying to lift its average revenue per user, says it will remain ‘open minded’ amid the two-year review.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/aussie-broadband-calls-for-return-of-the-nbn-bandwidth-bonus-562567
Aussie Broadband calls for return of the NBN bandwidth bonus
By Ry Crozier on Mar 25, 2021 10:10AM
Until a permanent restructure of price construct is made.
Aussie Broadband has asked NBN Co to resurrect the bandwidth bonus scheme that ran through much of 2020, shielding retail internet providers from excess charges as demand for broadband grew.
Managing director Phillip Britt suggested the connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) bonus could act as an interim step while a more permanent solution to CVC provisioning - and to the CVC construct itself - is found.
CVC is a variable cost component of NBN Co’s pricing that is charged in addition to a fixed cost component.
During Covid, NBN Co provided up to 40 percent extra CVC on what a retail service provider (RSP) purchased in February 2020 at no extra charge.
NBN Co started to unwind that in December last year, and has since reinstated full excess charges.
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TPG Telecom laments decade of having same NBN price conversation
By Ry Crozier on Mar 24, 2021 4:48PM
With no change in sight.
TPG Telecom has captured the essence of internet industry frustration with the NBN, lamenting a decade spent discussing the “inefficiencies and complexities” of NBN pricing with little to show for it, and no substantive changes on the horizon.
The commentary is contained in the first part of TPG’s response to NBN Co’s latest pricing review, which offers two ways to increase NBN prices while delaying any substantive changes until FY24.
From the outset, this is a price review that no retail service provider (RSP) - or indeed internet user - is going to be greatly excited about.
And TPG in its submission to NBN Co - obtained by iTnews - expresses clear frustration at NBN Co’s long-term inaction on price, despite almost all its RSPs being on the same page regarding the need for change.
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NBN Co 'contemplates' path to 100Mbps-plus business satellite services
By Ry Crozier on Mar 24, 2021 7:14PM
Says it is exploring new equipment.
NBN Co is “contemplating” new equipment for its business satellite service that could allow it to offer speeds of above 100Mbps.
“Currently we have equipment that maxes out south of 100Mbps,” chief development officer for regional and remote Gavin Williams told a TelSoc event on Wednesday.
“Our Sky Muster Plus service we sell as a 25Mbps-plus service, it can burst up to 50[Mbps] down and 10[Mbps] up.
“New equipment that we’re contemplating for our business satellite service might be able to take us beyond 100Mbps.
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Friday, 19 March 2021 17:47
Australia well behind New Zealand in broadband download speeds
Australia compares poorly to New Zealand when it comes to broadband download speeds, the New Zealand Commerce Commission says in its Annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report, with Kiwis enjoying average download speeds of 67Mbps.
Australia, on the other hand, had download speeds of about 26Mbps, according to the data which was sourced from the UK organisation cable.co.uk.
The report concerned itself mainly with New Zealand statistics and said 87% of the population would have access to fibre by the end of 2022.
Released on Wednesday, the report provided statistics for the past year and found that while New Zealand was ahead of Australia when it came to mobile affordability — measured against 100 calls and a 2GB monthly data allowance — Australia was far ahead in terms of unlimited data of 100Mbps connections.
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CSIRO’s Parkes dish to support the first commercial moon landings
The famous Parkes radio telescope will provide ground station support for one of the first commercial lunar landings probably later this year.
The CSIRO which operates the telescope, says it has signed a new five-year agreement with Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines to support multiple lunar missions, including their first flight under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
The 64-metre telescope will be the largest and most sensitive receiving ground station for Intuitive Machines’ upcoming missions, maximising the return of the scientific and engineering data for the lunar exploration program.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will power the moon venture.
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Enjoy!
David.
