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ACCC May Have Control Over Who Has Access To Telstra

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The Federal Government has released a Regulatory Reform discussion paper that includes the ACCC having veto over companies wanting access to Telstra and other networks.

The Federal Government has released a Regulatory Reform discussion paper that includes the ACCC having veto over companies wanting access to Telstra and other networks.The Government is seeking public comment on ways to improve telecommunications regulations to make it work more effectively in the interest of consumers and businesses.

The existing regime needs to be reformed to improve competition and strengthen consumer safeguards, as well as remove redundant and inefficient red tape. A vibrant, competitive telecommunications sector is important for delivering lower prices, better quality and more innovative services for consumers and businesses.

“The Regulatory Reform paper I am releasing today seeks views on the options the Government will consider for reform of the existing regime to make it work more effectively, particularly during the rollout of the NBN”, said the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy.

 

A wide range of stakeholders, including telecommunications carriers and consumer groups, have expressed concerns about the effectiveness of the current regime.

The Regulatory Reform paper canvasses a range of options for reform, including:

streamlining current regulatory processes, by allowing the ACCC to set up-front access terms for companies wanting access to Telstra and other networks;
 
strengthening the powers of the ACCC to tackle anti-competitive conduct by allowing it to impose binding rule of conduct when issuing competition notices;
 
promoting greater competition across the industry, including through measures to better address Telstra’s vertical and horizontal integration, such as functional separation;
 
addressing competition and investment issues arising from cross-ownership of fixed-line and cable networks, and telecommunications and media assets;
 
improving universal access arrangements for telephony and payphones; and
 
introducing more effective rules, requiring telephone companies to make connections and repairs within set time-frames.
The Government is seeking submissions by 3 June 2009, before making final decisions and introducing legislation into the Parliament.

The Government does not favour any specific reform option. It is, however committed to ensuring that the regulatory framework in this sector is effective in promoting the long term interests of end-users, without imposing any unnecessary burdens on business.

Copies of the Regulatory Reform discussion paper and further information on the enhanced National Broadband Network are available at www.dbcde.gov.au/nationalbroadbandnetwork

Netgear Gets Into Phone Business

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Netgear and Skype, the Web-based calling company which is a unit of eBay has launched a wireless mobile telephone for Skype. No pricing is available but the device will be launched in Australia by mid 2006.

The Netgear Wi-Fi phone is designed to work wherever a consumer is connected to a wireless Internet access point — at home, in an office, cafe, public hotspot, or in cities where wireless access may be available citywide, the companies said. By contrast, existing Skype phones, including cordless models, must be connected to a computer.

 Patrick Lo the CEO of Netgear told SHN that the device will be sold by traditional IT resellers as well as telecommunication resellers.  Griek Spierkel the CEO of Ingram Micro said” In Australia Ingram Micro are well positioned to take a product like this on as we have both a telco and IT reseller distribution operation”.


Click to enlarge

A variety of telephone makers including Cisco’s Linksys, are seeking to cash in on the Web-based calling craze popularized by Skype, first in Europe and Asia and now Australia.

Users can make free domestic and international calls and hold conference calls with other Skype users. Calls to regular phones incur a small fee. “Customers can now call anyone on Skype, anywhere in the world for free without using a PC anytime they are connected to Wi-Fi,” said Patrick Lo, Netgear’s chairman and chief executive in a statement issued ahead of a press conference at the Consumers Electronics Show underway in Las Vegas this week.

An October report from Jupiter Research predicted that 20.4 million  US households will subscribe to some form of Internet-based broadband phone service by 2010.

The Netgear phone is pre-loaded with Skype’s software. The user simply needs to turn on the phone and enter a username and password. The software pulls up the user’s full contact list of Skype contacts to whom free calls can be made.

More information on Netgear’s Skype Wi-Fi phone, including pricing and availability, is planned for the first quarter of 2006, the companies said.

In addition to the Skype Wi-Fi phone, Netgear and Skype said Netgear’s RangeMax wireless network router will be optimized to work with Skype.

RangeMax is designed to avoid interference from neighboring wireless networks and to eliminate “dead spots” that can prevent consistent connections around a house.

New Lexmark All In One Printer

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The Lexmark X8350 features a 2.4-inch color LCD, slots for the major memory card formats and a USB port for accepting USB flash drives and PictBridge-enabled digital cameras. Photos can be cropped, rotated, color corrected and have red-eye removed using the unit’s LCD screen and controls. The printer can also add photo effects to digital images, without a PC.

It features a print speed of 25 pages per minute (ppm) black and 19 ppm color alongside an automatic document feeder (ADF) capable of handling a maximum of 50 pages.The X8350 ships with Lexmark’s Productivity Suite software which is designed for managing print and electronic documents. The software can create and search PDF files and scan printed documents into editable text. The printer is also network ready with optional Ethernet and wireless network adapters. The all-in-one will ship in January for an estimated $299.

Scandal At Toshiba Deepens,PC Subsidiaries Fudged Numbers OZ CEO Fails To Respond

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The scandal at Toshiba has deepened with independent investigators revealing that subsidiaries of the giant Japanese Company were asked to overstate operating profits.

Mark Whittard the CEO of Toshiba Australia has not responded to our question as to whether Toshiba Australia has ever overstated their income or profits or pushed forward sales in an effort to report better than achieved results. 

It’s now been revealed that three consecutive Toshiba chief executives fuelled more than $1.7 billion in dodgy accounting reports an independent panel hired by the company said last night in Japan.

The report that is likely to lead to wholesale changes at the top.

The report said that the investigators discovered problems in multiple parts of the company including the personal-computer division, and the semiconductor business, which has recently been Toshiba’s biggest profit maker.

The investigators found that the 140-year-old company, one of Japan’s best-known corporate brands, had lax controls and a top-down culture that left managers little choice but to fudge their numbers, by setting unrealistic profit targets and demanding that subordinates meet them. 

The Wall Street Journal said that the panel, which was led by a former top prosecutor in Japan who got help from dozens of outside lawyers and accountants, reviewed income statements from 2008 to 2014. 

“There was a corporate culture at Toshiba under which it was impossible to go against the intentions of superiors,” the report said.

“Toshiba should have been a model for other companies,” it said. “Instead, improper accounting procedures involving extremely large amounts were continuously carried out. The fact that this has come to light is truly a surprise and has the effect of betraying the trust of many stakeholders.”

The report singled out three chief executives-the current holder of the job, Hisao Tanaka, and his two predecessors, Norio Sasaki (2009-13) and Atsutoshi Nishida (2005-09).

All three pressured managers to achieve high sales targets, especially in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the report said. It said the company had a system under which the CEO would set a “challenge” for subordinates to meet.

Sometimes the “challenge” would come shortly before the end of a quarter or fiscal year, forcing managers to postpone losses or push forward sales to meet the challenge, the report said.

People familiar with the matter have said that Messrs. Tanaka and Sasaki, who is now vice chairman, are likely to resign.

A Toshiba spokeswoman said any announcements would be made at a press conference being held later today in Japan.

Click Frenzy Fails Again CE Retailers Not Happy

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Click Frenzy who has a diehard reputation for stuffing up online shoppers with their so called 24-hour sale is at it again, this time customer actually got into their site only to discover that they were unable to pay for their goods online.

The problem appears to be an issue with the Commonwealth Bank’s credit card processing gateway.

A spokesman for the bank said CBA and MasterCard were working on the issue but it was not clear what was causing it.

Retailers taking part in its 24-hour sale, including Dick Smith, Betta Electrical and the Microsoft online store are set to be “fed up” with the constant problems associated with doing business with Clik Frenzy.

In the past there has been total meltdowns of the site due to poor server and ISP infrastructure. 

Several shoppers have said that they have struggled to pay for goods.

eWAY posted a message on its Facebook site alerting customers of “intermittent issues with Commonwealth Bank issued cards.”

Commonwealth Bank said some customers with MasterCards issued by other banks were seeing their cards declined, as were merchants using Commonwealth Bank terminals.


Click Frenzy founder Grant Arnott told Fairfax Media it was hugely disappointing.

“Clearly we’re disappointed that retailers and consumers have to suffer because of a technical glitch at such a high level,” Mr Arnott said.

And it’s not just Commonwealth Bank’s card holders that are affected. Mr Arnott said it was also affecting merchants using Commonwealth Bank and Bankwest gateways to process payments.

The timing is terrible for Click Frenzy, but it’s a busy time of year for all retailers trying to make the most of the early Christmas shopping.
“It’s going to impact a large number of merchants when you have Click Frenzy going on and a high level of activity for a lot of merchants, it’s critical,” Mr Arnott said.

Mr Arnott would not provide any sales forecasts for 2015, in the past sales have fallen well short of forecast targets. 

Most of the 340 retailers that take part in Click Frenzy are Australian, including big name brands including Dick Smith, Woolworths, sleepwear chain Peter Alexander and homewares group House.

Launched in 2012, Click Frenzy initially underestimated its popularity and the site crashed as hundreds of thousands of people tried to access bargains in the lead-up to Christmas.

EXCLUSIVE: Kogan Tipped To Be Interested In Dick Smith Name + Online Operation

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Kogan the online retailer is believed to be a bidder for the Dick Smith name and web site.

According to sources the Melbourne based online retailer, who is tipped to be looking at doing an online float, has approached the receivers of the failed business to buy the Dick Smith name and online business.

Ruslan Kogan the founder of the Kogan web site has not commented on the claim. 

According to the AFR, Kogan is working with investment banks UBS and Canaccord Genuity, who are readying the company for a $300 million initial public offering in the second half of this year.
 
The acquisition of the Dick Smith online business which is believed to be profitable would be a major coupe for Kogan who primarily sells house brand products and grey imported branded products.

Kogan claims his sales are currently around $250 million, the addition of the Dick Smith brand name and web site operation would allow him to use his current back end billing and inventory control systems across both a Kogan and Dick Smith web site or he could simply stop trading as Kogan and operate as Dick Smith online. 

Last year Kogan like Dick Smith joined forces with Vodafone Hutchison Australia to launch a new mobile service that sells low-cost services with 3G data.
Dick Smith was a major partner with Vodafone.

The IPO plans come after Kogan previously had KPMG Corporate Finance in its corner testing buyer interest for a stake in the business. At the time, it was Kogan’s goal to reach $2 billion in annual turnover by 2017.

UPDATED:Masters To Be Closed Down As Bunnings Moves Into UK

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Days after the collapse of Dick Smith Woolworths sources have said that they plan to kill off their loss making Masters chain, a move that is set to hit several big suppliers.

According to sources Woolworths who originally owned Dick Smith has bought out their Master joint venture partner Lowe’s Companies Inc for an as-yet-undisclosed price.

Investors welcomed to the news, sending Woolworths shares as much as 7.5 per cent higher at $24.36 just before 10.40am (AEDT).

The decision to close or sell Masters also puts at risk more than 7000 jobs across the chain’s network of stores, with many of those jobs part time and casual positions.

Masters has 59 stores in Australia, with its biggest presence in Melbourne and Sydney metro areas.

The news comes as Wesfarmers expects to complete the $705 million acquisition of UK home improvement chain Homebase in the first quarter of 201.

The deal comes after Wesfarmers said on January 14 that it had made a provisional bid for the chain.

The conglomerate has said plans to roll out its Bunnings hardware brand to the UK within five years.

Homebase reported revenue of $3.1 billion for the 12 months ended August 29 and has 265 stores.

Masters chain which has racked up more than $600 million in losses since it started in 2011 and has sucked in more than $3 billion in investment from its partners will close following a review of the business by Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns.

Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns said on Monday that Australia’s largest retailer would sell or wind up the home improvement business, which has lost more than $600 million over the last four years.

“We have determined we cannot continue to sustain ongoing losses from this business,” he said.

The decision follows the completion of a strategic review of the home improvement business, which includes Masters and Home Timber and Hardware, and Lowe’s move to exercise its put option.

“Our recent review of operating performance indicates it will take many years for Masters to become profitable,” said Mr Cairns.

“We have determined we cannot continue to sustain ongoing losses from this business,” he said.

“As a result of our engagement with Lowe’s, it has advised us that it intends to exercise the put option which is available to it under the joint venture agreement. The agreement requires this to happen before Woolworths may exercise its call option.”

“Following the exercise of our call option, we intend to pursue an orderly prospective sale or wind -up of the business,” he said.

This would enable full ownership of the business by Woolworths in a shorter timeframe and give the retailer access to the widest range of exit options, Mr Cairns said.

Harvey Norman To Add $500M In Revenue After Buying Clive Peeters

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Harvey Norman Holdings have snapped up Clive Peeters and WA retail group Rick Hart for the basement price of $55M. The acquisition is tipped to add an additional $500M to Harvey Norman revenues.

The deal involves approximately 38 stores however speculation is mounting that some of these stores will be closed as part of a rationalisation by Harvey Norman. Six loss making stores were closed last month.
There is also speculation that Harvey Norman Holdings will trade as Clive Peeters and Rick Hart stores.
Former Clive Peeters CEO, Greg Smith, a former accountant who was also the largest shareholder in Clive Peeters, will get nothing out of the deal with the bulk of the Harvey Norman payment going to the National Australia Bank who last month appointed receiver Phil Carter from corporate advisory firm, PPB.
Late on Friday night Harvey Norman Chairman, Gerry Harvey, admitted that the retailer has always had an interest in buying out Clive Peeters, but the high cost of several leases associated with the stores meant that the better option was to let the stores go broke and then bid for the remaining assets with the lease liabilities. 
Harvey told the Herald Sun in Melbourne: “We were always interested in Clive Peeters but we couldn’t make a bid for it or anything because they had a number of onerous leases,” 
“So it had to go into receivership before you could actually negotiate some of those leases.”
Mr Harvey said it was no surprise that the business went bust and he was waiting to make his move on the company.”It’s been common knowledge for a long time that Clive Peeters is on the verge of insolvency,” he said.
Clive Peeters was forced into voluntary administration on May 19 by the National Australia bank who refused to extend the company’s borrowings. The debts of the retailer were over $160 million.
On June 11, receiver Phil Carter of PPB Pty Ltd said 75 jobs would be lost from the closure of six underperforming stores.
In a statement to the ASX on Friday, Harvey Norman said that it had agreed to buy “certain stock and plant and equipment located at certain of the locations, knowhow, intellectual property rights and systems”.
Harvey Norman is expected to take over about 30 stores under the Clive Peeters and Rick Hart banners. But nothing has been unveiled yet about three warehouses belonging to the company.
Mr. Carter was appointed as receiver by National Australia Bank in May. He closed six stores and finally the business was put up for sale.
Carter said that Harvey Norman has assured the receiver that it will be providing employment to the majority of Clive Peeters and Rick Hart employees.

Discounting Hurting Claims Harvey Norman Director

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One of the most senior executives in the consumer electronics industry has called for manufacturers to stop discounting. He claims that factories making TV’s to notebooks are slashing costs in an effort to support their faltering manufacturing operations and that the move is set to impact CE retailing in Australia in a bad way.One of the most senior executives in the consumer electronics industry has called for manufacturers to stop discounting. He claims that factories making TV’s to notebooks are slashing costs in an effort to support their faltering manufacturing operations and that the move will have a big effect on CE retailing in Australia.
David Ackery the General Manager  of Electrical at Harvey Norman said “discounting is rampant and in many cases manufacturers subsidiaries in Australia are being forced by factories to discount. This is not good because if we going to sell less we need to have some profit left in a product to survive”.
“Margin is good not bad because without margin all we are doing is product churning. During the past 12 months we have seen increased sales of notebooks and flat panel TV’s but at the same time margins have been eroded because of rampant discounting”.
Recently Channel News revealed that the margin in flat panel displays have dropped in price by as much as 30% monitors by 45% and that notebooks have fallen by up to 40% yet despite this Companies like Sony and Panasonic are introducing big price rises due to the fall in the Australian dollar and the rise of the Japanese Yen.
Len Wallis of Len Wallis Audio in Sydney supported Ackery in his call for more margin in products “Discounting is having a big knock on effect. We cannot buy a TV product  that is under the price that the mass retailers are selling it for example a Sharp large screen LCD TV at Bing Lee is $160 cheaper than I can buy it for. Plus you get a free Chinese dinner set and the chance to win a trip to Hong Kong”.
He added “The mass retailers must be suffering as they are not making much money selling TV’s even worse is that they will be dependent on rebates and these don’t come through for several weeks so many will be cash flow negative straight after they have made a sale”.
Several manufacturers contacted by ChannelNews were not available to comment.

Networking Over Power Lines Coming Soon

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Networking company Netgear is promising to turn your home’s electrical system into a high speed network capable of carrying high-definition video around the home.

 At the recent KickStart Media Conference Netgear boss Ian McLean alluded to Netgear being in the market for networking over power lines. 

Now we can reveal that Netgear has teamed up with chipset company Design of Systems on Silicon (DS2) and developed homeplug style device that will pump content around the home at 200Mbits/sec without having to lay any cables. Using DS2’s Powerline HD chipset the new products will turn your plug socket into a high-speed broadband connection.

Additional devices plugged in around the home will create a flexible network to stream content to and from PCs, set-top boxes, hifis, games consoles and TVs. This is not the first technology to use the electrical wiring system to create a communications network, but it is the first to promise high-speed delivery of high-definition content.

The first products will be on preview at the upcoming Cebit show and will be available to buy in Q2.