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This week
IN THE NEWS: ACCC decision looms for 'game changing' Telstra-TPG deal for bush mobile services, Scam alert: Toll road impersonation scams, and more
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For more than 40 years, Norm Chapman has relied on Telstra to keep him connected. He's worked in some strange places over the decades on a trawler and as a truckie, but Mr Chapman said he used to get a mobile phone signal wherever he was in Australia. [ABC news online]
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Scammers are sending messages pretending to be toll road operators, including Linkt. If you’ve been sent a text claiming you have an overdue toll road account or insufficient funds, it could be a scam. Linkt, operated by Transurban, provides accounts for toll road payments across Australia. Scam messages may come from an unknown number or have the word ‘Linkt’ in the sender display details to make them appear genuine. These phishing scams are trying to trick you into clicking on a link that leads to a convincing – but fake – website designed to steal your personal or financial details. [ACMA website]
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ACCAN’s Grants Round for 2023 is scheduled to open in January, with funded projects to begin from July. ACCAN encourages anyone interested in applying to discuss their project ideas with the Grants Team. For more information about our grants scheme, or how grant applications are assessed, visit our website. [ACCAN]
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Telecommunications company Telstra has updated its Adaptive Mobility and Adaptive Networks solutions for its enterprise customers, giving them options for how they want to connect in a way that works for their business. [iTWire]
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Australian companies failing to protect their customers’ data will face tougher financial penalties when new privacy laws come into effect. Federal parliament passed the laws on Monday which will significantly increase penalties for repeated or serious privacy breaches. The maximum penalty for companies will be increased from a $2.2 million fine to one of three options. [The New Daily]
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On Tuesday the Productivity Commission published the final report of the Australian Government Competitive Neutrality Complaints Office’s investigation into a complaint made in October 2020 regarding NBN Co’s application of the Australian Government’s competitive neutrality policy. [Minister Rowland media release]
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Twitter’s API once held such an easily exploitable flaw that hackers managed to grab 5.4 million user details. Now, according to reports and mentions from users in hacker forums, there are several million more points of user data floating around on the internet. [Gizmodo]
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Earlier this month, the ACCC’s Scamwatch revealed that cyber scams are on the rise, with over 166,000 reports registered in the first nine months of the year. It’s something we’ve noticed across our network too. As part of our Cleaner Pipes program, we’re detecting and blocking more email, SMS and phone call scams with improved spam and scam filters than ever. According to Scamwatch, email is the third most commonly reported mode of attack (33,287 reports) after phone (51,234) and SMS scams (50,947). [Telstra Exchange]
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The scourge of SMS scams is proving a knotty problem for Australian telcos despite their success in reducing the number of scam phone calls people receive. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch says that between 1 January and 13 November this year, reports about phone scams decreased by 61% from 135,400 in 2021 to 57,400 this year. The reduction is being credited to the scam calls code the industry brought in to identify, block and trace incoming calls from scammers in 2020. [The Guardian]
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On 29 November 2022, NBN Co lodged a variation to its Special Access Undertaking (SAU) with the ACCC. NBN Co is seeking to vary the SAU to incorporate fibre-to-the-node and other copper-based technologies to create a single regulatory framework for all technologies. The SAU variation also included significant changes to other key elements of the SAU, including product and pricing commitments, the framework for NBN Co’s cost recovery, rules for how the ACCC assesses network expenditure, and the service standards framework. [ACCC website]
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Email: media@accan.org.au
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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.
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