Fifield pledges to push for audio descriptions, NBN releases financial results, and more
Weekly webnews
In the news this week: ACCAN urges the re-establishment of the Communications Fund, Audio Description may be on its way, and NBN releases financial results.
Telco consumer advocate group Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is urging the government to re-establish the Communications Fund to support future communications programs.
Federal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield will push free-to-air and public television broadcasters to start offering audio descriptions to cater for blind and vision-impaired Australians. [news.com.au]
NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue says the national broadband network can be upgraded after its rollout is complete, in comments intended to allay concerns the Coalition's multi-technology mix has created a permanently substandard network. [Australian Financial Review]
Speaking to ZDNet during the financial results call, CEO Stephen Rue said the company and its retailers are always thinking about how to ensure everyone has access to the network, following calls from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) last week for lower pricing for low-income households that cannot afford the NBN.[ZDNet]
Optus customers have flooded social media to complain about suspicious account activity, claiming they have been victim to "major privacy" breaches when logging into their accounts. [ABC News]
Labor has all but conceded the security of Australians is weaker in the wake of encryption-busting legislation it helped rush through parliament last year. [itnews]
Australia's telecommunications industry generated $44 billion in revenue last financial year, but that bulk of that is flowing to carriage service providers and over-the-top content, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). [CRN]
Telstra’s NBN service been named Australia’s fastest internet service provider (ISP) for streaming Netflix in January 2019, with the telco’s non-NBN service trailing in fourth place. [ChannelNews]
Optus has announced a profit drop of AU$147 million year on year for the nine-month period to the end of December, falling to AU$431 million, with the telco citing lower National Broadband Network (NBN) migration payments. [ZDNet]
Although we take care to direct subscribers to sites with accurate and reliable content, we advise that ACCAN is not responsible for the content within external sites and has no control over the views, services or information contained therein. Information contained on external sites may not necessarily reflect ACCAN's policy, standards or beliefs.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network's representation of residential and other consumers' interests in relation to telecommunications issues is made possible by funding provided by the Commonwealth of Australia under section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. This funding is recovered from charges on telecommunications carriers.
WebNews #469
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