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Martin Kovacs

Optus And Uber Team Up, Trialling In-Car 4G Wi-Fi

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Optus has partnered with ride-sharing service Uber, with the collaboration to see the trial of in-car 4G Wi-Fi for selected vehicles.The trial will initially be rolled out in 100 vehicles in Sydney and Melbourne, with the Wi-Fi device allowing for up to 10 devices to be connected at the same time.

“Uber has fundamentally changed the way we think about getting from point A to point B, and for us this is an opportunity to create a truly connected experience for drivers and riders by using our super-fast 4G Plus network,” Steve Long, Optus director, local markets, commented.

“Recognising that online access is a critical component of the Uber experience, we are offering exclusive offers to both drivers and passengers to access the fast and reliable Optus network while they are in transit.”

Optus states that the partnership will see the introduction of Uber as a business travel resource for Optus employees, with the current phase of activity to include an exclusive offer made available to Uber drivers.

“Optus has truly embraced the benefits of ride-sharing today by enabling their employees to access safe and reliable rides at the touch of a button, while Optus’ deal for driver-partners will help make Uber the best and most efficient platform for partners to earn a flexible income,” Brent Annells, Uber head of business ANZ, commented.

Telstra And NBN Enter MoU For HFC Rollout

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Telstra and NBN have signed an MoU to negotiate a contract for the telco to support the NBN network build in areas currently covered by its HFC footprint.Under the MoU, Telstra and NBN will negotiate to finalise a contract covering the design, engineering, procurement and construction management of the NBN network, Telstra today advised, with the contract expected to be completed early in 2016.

NBN has advised that discussions with Optus are ongoing with a similar objective.

NBN states that it has been discussing a shared management approach with both Telstra and Optus for their HFC respective networks.

Telstra will additionally undertake some early works to support the build of the NBN network in its HFC footprint while the contract is negotiated, including preparing Telstra NBN exchange locations and HFC planning and design work.

Meanwhile, Telstra has been awarded two new contracts as one of the network operations and maintenance services providers to NBN, with an estimated combined first-year revenue of $80 million, subject to the volume of work.

Under the  first contract, running over three years, Telstra will fix faults on the copper network and undertake a small number of new connections for services that are yet to transfer to the NBN.

The second, running over four years, relates to fixing faults and connecting new services on the NBN for the fibre-to-the-node, fibre-to-the-premises, fibre-to-the-basement and HFC technologies in select areas once a customer has migrated to the NBN.

NBN has today additionally advised that along with Telstra, Service Stream and BSA have each been awarded an operate and maintain master agreement for the provision of “operate and maintain” services on fibre-to-the-premises, fibre-to-the-node and HFC.

The works will involve activating homes and businesses, along with ongoing maintenance, with work covered by the agreements relating to operations and maintenance work once an area has been declared “ready for service”, NBN stated.

Vodafone Says Sorry Following Outage: 2 GB Data For Customers

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Following its mobile network outage on Sunday evening, Vodafone has apologised for the disruption, with the telco to hand out a bonus 2 GB of data to customers.Vodafone stated that part of its network was impacted by the issue at around 6:30pm on Sunday, with services progressively restored from 10.45pm and fully restored by 11.30am the following day.

Vodafone advised that “a router malfunction caused 4G services to become unavailable”.

“During the disruption, customers were automatically switched to 3G or 2G, however congestion meant some were intermittently unable to access voice, data and text services,” the telco stated.

The outage is the latest in a number of network issues experienced by telcos this year.

Telstra has suffered a number of issues, having held two free data days following outages.

Optus, meanwhile, has been criticised by customers for its coverage of the English Premier League.

Vodafone stated that the bonus 2 GB is its way of saying sorry to customers affected by the issue.

“While not all customers experienced service disruption, all postpaid customers and prepaid customers who top-up within a month, will receive an additional 2 GB of data,” Vodafone stated.

Vodafone noted that “2 GB is more than 50 per cent of the average monthly data use for Vodafone customers”.

“Postpaid customers will receive an additional 2 GB of data during their October or November billing cycle to be valid for the entire billing month,” Vodafone advised.

“When prepaid customers recharge after a date to be advised in October and within a month of that date, they will receive a one-off additional 2 GB to be used during the length of their recharge.

“Customers will be notified when the additional 2 GB of data is applied. The data will be applied automatically and usage can be monitored via MyVodafone. The data is for use within Australia.”

Issues Raised Over The Good Guys’ Buyback

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With The Good Guys edging closer to ASX float or sale, issues have been raised over its move to a fully corporate-owned network.As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, the Muir family’s buyback of joint venture stores could see associated performance issues, with retail analysts suggesting the transition represents a risk to earnings with new store managers being installed to replace outgoing owners.

The SMH has reported an analyst as stating some uncertainty exists as to how many former joint venture owners would remain as store managers, potentially drawing out the transition period.

“It’s definitely a potential risk,” the SMH reported the analyst as stating. “I’m not sure how you value it, but some of those owners would be far more predisposed to being owners than employees … I would have thought that is a valid concern for The Good Guys.”

In May, The Good Guys appointed Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and UBS as joint lead managers to support its planned initial public offer and listing on the ASX, with the oversight of Helfen Corporate Advisory as independent financial adviser.

The Good Guys, which recently opened its 101st store, stated at the time that annual sales were approximately $2 billion.

Having indicated in April that it was exploring an initial public offer and ASX listing, The Good Guys chairman Andrew Muir described it as “the next logical step in the evolution and growth of The Good Guys”.

In October last year, the retailer had announced its intention to accelerate its transition to a fully corporatised business model.

The SMH has reported sources close to the group as claiming that significant resources have been invested in ensuring a smooth transition to head office ownership.

ACCC Issues Public Warning Notice Over Conduct Of Australian Business Funding Centre

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has today issued a public warning notice about the conduct of Australian Business Funding Centre Pty Ltd, alleging it has made false or misleading representations about its service’s capability and quality.Australian Business Funding Centre (also known as Australian Business Financing Centre or ABFC) operates the website www.australiangovernmentgrants.org.

“The ACCC alleges that ABFC website, and its sales representatives, purport to offer access to an online database of the Australian government grants and loans available to small businesses,” the ACCC states. “Small business owners paid fees ranging from $497 to $701 to access the database, only to find there were no suitable grants or that they were ineligible for grants listed.”

The warning notice “alleges ABFC has made false or misleading representations about the service’s capability and quality, and the role the service has played in assisting small businesses gain government grant funding”.

The ACCC states that the website prominently features a range of “success stories” from actual Australian small businesses, however when contacted by the ACCC, the businesses said that the stories were used without their permission, with the businesses not having obtained any government funding via ABFC.

Despite australiangovernmentgrants.org including an Australian address, the ACCC states that it is operated by ABFC’s sole director, who is based overseas.

ACCC acting chair Dr Michael Schaper stated that the ACCC is “very concerned that small businesses are paying ABFC for a service that does not provide the information and assistance” that they have paid for.

“Similar websites targeting small businesses in other countries have also come to the attention of regulatory authorities in New Zealand and Canada,” Schaper commented.

“Small businesses should take care when assessing offers to assist them in obtaining government grants. The bottom line is that information relating to government grants is generally available free-of-charge from a variety of state and federal resources online.”

The ACCC advises that legitimate government grants information can be obtained for free at www.business.gov.au and other websites ending with .gov.au.

Telco Complaints Down, However Internet Complaints Rise

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New complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in October-December 2015 were at their lowest level in almost a decade, however internet complaints rose, TIO statistics show.New complaints were at their lowest level since July-September 2006, with the TIO receiving 23,572 new complaints in the quarter, down 9.4 per cent compared to the previous quarter, and 20.3 per cent fewer than in the corresponding period in 2014.

A 36 per cent year-on-year reduction in new mobile complaints “was driven by further falls in complaints about coverage and excess data charges, with mobile coverage no longer featuring as one of the 10 most common causes of consumer complaints to the TIO”.

Internet service complaints, meanwhile, rose 11.6 per cent year-on-year, with slow data speed continuing to be the primary driver of internet fault complaints, with 1,662 issues reported during the quarter, representing a 56.8 per cent increase year-on-year.

Among other internet service complaints, consumers reported 1,039 drop-out issues, up 15.7 per cent year-on-year.

The TIO recorded 2,176 new NBN-related landline and internet complaints in the quarter, 3.8 per cent fewer than in the previous quarter, however 40.1 per cent higher year-on-year, with the TIO noting the increase in complaints was much lower than the increase in connected premises over the same period (128.3 per cent).

An emerging issue during the quarter related to a growth in complaints about unusable NBN services, the TIO additionally noted, with 210 reports of unusable NBN landlines and 184 reports of unusable NBN internet services, an increase of 47.9 and 42.6 per cent, respectively, compared to the previous quarter, with some reports relating to both.

“The majority of complaints about unusable NBN services happened during the first few weeks of consumers transferring their services from copper to the NBN and 90 per cent were resolved after the TIO referred them back to the telco,” TIO acting ombudsman Diane Carmody commented.

CEO Nick Abboud Quits Dick Smith

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Dick Smith CEO Nick Abboud has stepped down from his role at the struggling electronics retailer a week after it was placed into receivership, effective immediately.Receiver Ferrier Hodgson has announced that Don Grover, former Retail Fusion Brands CEO, has been appointed as interim CEO.

Grover has more than 30 years’ experience in the retail sector, having also held the CEO role at Dymocks, along with various operational roles at David Jones.

The resignation of Abboud, the Dick Smith CEO since 2012, follows the ongoing fallout from the retailer’s collapse, with the impact being felt throughout the consumer electronics industry.

Ferrier Hodgson has today launched advertisements online and across major publications in Australia and New Zealand seeking expressions of interest for the sale of the Dick Smith and Move businesses.

Ferrier Hodgson states there has been over 40 initial expressions of interest from various parties prior to the commencement of the advertising campaign.

Further expressions of interest are being sought by or on January 27, while once the non-binding expressions of interest have been assessed, a short list of parties will be developed, who will be invited to commence initial due diligence and then submit formal offers.

The process is expected to continue well into February.

Dick Smith’s secured creditors are owed approximately $140 million and its unsecured creditors approximately $250 million.

ACCC Orders 9.4% Access Prices Cut: Telstra Reportedly Considering Appeal Options

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has ordered that Telstra cut the prices it charges other operators to access its fixed line copper network, with Fairfax Media reporting that the telco is considering its legal options in the wake of the decision.The ACCC today advised it had reached its final decision, requiring a one-off uniform fall of 9.4 per cent in access prices from current levels, which will apply from November 1, 2015 until June 30, 2019.

The decision revises downward the ACCC’s draft ruling in June of 9.6 per cent.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims noted the decision had come about from a number of considerations, with “downward pressures more than offsetting upward pressures”.

“Downward pressures largely come from lower expenditures, falling cost of capital, the treatment of the effects of migration to the NBN and updated information on the NBN rollout,” Sims commented. “These more than offset upward pressures from a shrinking fixed line market due to consumers moving away from fixed line services and to mobile services.”

Sims stated users of Telstra’s network “should not pay the higher costs that result from fewer customers as NBN migration occurs”.

Without an adjustment for higher costs, customers not yet migrated to the NBN “will ultimately pay significantly higher prices for copper based services”, he added.

“The ACCC has taken this approach because it considers that users of the fixed line network have not caused the asset redundancy and under-utilisation and will not be able to use those assets and capacity in the future,” Sims commented.

“It would not be in the long-term interests of end users (LTIE) for costs to be allocated to users of the network who do not cause them, particularly when Telstra has an avenue to recover those costs.”

Fairfax Media has reported that Telstra, which had proposed a 7.2 per cent increase in charges, is considering its legal options, with a Telstra spokesman stating it is considering its various options for appeal.

“The decision does not follow the ACCC’s own fixed pricing principles that require Telstra to be given the opportunity to recover from wholesale customers the costs of providing services to them,” Fairfax reported the spokesman as saying in a statement. “Any regulated entity should be concerned by this decision, especially in circumstances where merits review has been removed.  

“We are particularly disappointed to see the ACCC depart from its draft decision in March, which recognised the importance of providing price stability to the industry at this time of transition to the NBN.”

ACCC Expresses NBN-Telstra Competition Concerns

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has expressed concerns around the competition implications of Telstra’s involvement in the NBN rollout following Telstra and NBN today announcing a hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) delivery agreement.Telstra has signed a new contract with NBN, which the telco has stated is worth approximately $1.6 billion, under which it will provide planning, design, construction and construction management services within its existing HFC footprint.

With the works expected to continue until the end of the NBN build, they cover geographic areas in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide.

“All design, program management, construction management and scheduling activities will be undertaken by Telstra,” Telstra states.

Split into two areas, construction will comprise field construction activities to largely be performed by NBN’s multi-technology integrated master agreement partners, while Telstra will undertake in-exchange construction activities and limited upstream in-field activities.

A memorandum of understanding and letter of intent were signed late last year, with Telstra having undertaken some early works supporting build of the NBN in the existing HFC footprint, including preparing NBN exchange locations and HFC planning and design work.

The ACCC has stated that, “while recognising that using Telstra’s technical expertise will contribute to a quicker rollout of the NBN”, it “remains concerned that competition issues arise from agreements that involve Telstra in the construction and maintenance of the NBN”, including the HFC delivery agreement.

“We have raised several concerns with Telstra and NBN Co, including that Telstra may receive a competitive advantage if it has access to better information than other service providers or if it is able to use infrastructure built for the NBN network before that infrastructure becomes available to other retail service providers,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims commented.

The ACCC stated that it “has had extensive and productive discussions with NBN and Telstra”, seeking to address concerns related to Telstra’s role in providing design, engineering, procurement and construction management services to NBN under the HFC agreement, with NBN and Telstra recently providing a set of proposals aimed at addressing these concerns.

“We are looking at the parties’ proposals carefully to consider to what extent these proposals address our concerns,” Sims stated.

“It is important that Telstra doesn’t get a head start selling retail services over the NBN just because its technical expertise is being used in the construction and maintenance of the NBN.”

Telstra And NAB Introduce Proquo Digital Marketplace

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Telstra and NAB have teamed up to create Proquo, a new digital marketplace for small businesses.The platform will allow users to swap or exchange their skills or services in addition to traditional monetary payments, Telstra Retail executive director global contact centres Andy Ellis advised via a blog post.

Ellis wrote that the start-up joint venture “will offer more than two million Australian small businesses an online platform to network, trade or swap services with each other”.

Proquo is a modern interpretation of the phrase quid pro quo (meaning “this for that”), he advised.

“Small businesses and start-ups often struggle to get off the ground, especially in the early stages of operations, and our research shows that helping businesses connect, so they can build their networks with suppliers, customers and peers and exchange services, will be a great advantage for them,” Ellis wrote.

“As an example, a web designer may need the services of a brand expert or copywriter – they’ll be able to use Proquo to source a range of services from other providers, create briefs, exchange quotes, manage payments and publish reviews, all in the one place.”

Proquo was developed by NAB Labs and Telstra’s Gurrowa Innovation Lab, while, being a 50/50 joint venture, it will operate as an independent entity, NAB has advised.

“Small business is the backbone of the Australian economy – around 97 per cent of all Australian businesses are small businesses, and they provide a huge economic contribution to Australia’s current and future prosperity,” NAB executive general manager micro and small business Leigh O’Neill commented.

“Small business owners tell us they are continually looking for new ways to do business, and we think Proquo will provide them with a unique way to network and grow their business.”

Beginning a pilot phase in June, Proquo’s full launch is expected in July.

Further information can be found here.