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NBN Satellite “On Track”: UN

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Take THAT Turnbull: Global powerhouse United Nations has rowed into the latest NBN fight, defending plans to launch two satellites to deliver broadband to remote regions


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Thy Turnbull doth protest too much? Image: Daily Telegraph.

The row emerged before a government joint committee on NBN in Sydney on Monday, where a bitter war of words broke out between NBN Co chief Mike Quigley and Shadow Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Turnbull accused NBN Co of irregular and risky practices by purchasing two satellites prior to being allocated spaces in orbit by international agencies.

The two satellites are to deliver high speed broadband to remote areas covering 200,000 households, which Turnbull says is wasteful.

Ex- Alcatel Lucent boss Quigley denied the charges, insisting the practices were on par with regulations and had predecent.

But to back up Quigley, the UN communications agency informed the NBN Co that Australia are following the correct approvals process for its satellites, who quickly sought reassurance from big guns that it wasn’t acting like space cadets (without a shuttle).

“Advice received overnight from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says it is not uncommon for a company such as NBN Co to purchase satellites before having finalised their positions in orbit over Australia,” NBN Co said in a statement today.

Geneva-based UN said: “It is possible for a company to purchase a satellite in advance of it being put into use and the orbital slots being finalised.

“In order to secure those slots the notifying authority, which in Australia is the Australian Communications and Media Authority, needs to (a) initialise the registration procedure with the ITU, and (b) resolve any major compatibility issues with operators of neighbouring satellites.

“So long as there are no regional objections and the ITU registration process is underway an operator can proceed with its launch plans.”

 

NBN Co has been proactively pursuing the ITU international frequency coordination process since August 2010.

“We expect formalities will be complete before the satellites are in orbit in 2015,” Mike Quigley told NBN committee this week. 

Its Back: Internode Reboot ADSL2+ 200GB $49

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Internode reboots 200GB data quota on ADSL2+ broadband services.


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This means that Internode now has four high speed ADSL2+ plans, offering data quotas of 30GB ($49), 60GB ($59), 200GB ($69) and 300GB ($79).

However, bundle ADSL2+ broadband with a phone and you can get the massive 200GB allowance for $49, but the Nodeline phone will set you back another $30, totalling $79.90.

Internode, now owned by Perth based iiNet, reinstated the 200GB plan due to popular demand.

This follows removal of the 200GB plan earlier this month when it announced a $10 price cut on the 300GB data plan, which it appears was not as popular as the telco had anticipated.

The 200GB tier for Easy Broadband, Easy Bundle and EasyNaked plans is available now. Go to Internode for more info.

Aggressive Vodafone Hits Rural OZ

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Telco promises better regional coverage, trebling its network sites.

Vodafone says it is moving “aggressively” into its next phase of network building, announcing “significant regional coverage expansion,” switching on 1200 new 3G mobile network sites from July. 

Voda move to treble the number of network sites, comes after its network earned the name ‘Vodafail’, where service drops out became the norm for customers, many of whom fled the network in disgust.

The network expansion spanning thousands of square kilometres across the country, is part of its joint venture with Optus. 
The telco promise “much better network experience” on major roads, highways, and regional areas.

Vodafone will contact its customers directly in July to detail the areas in which the network coverage will increase.

However, Voda is the only of the ‘big 3’ telcos not to have souped up a 4G network in operation but are promising it will go live next month. 

A Voda spokesperson would not be drawn on a date, when contacted by SmartHouse, but it’s looking like it won’t be for another few weeks yet, considering tomorrow is 01 June. 
“Our customers have been very clear what they want from us,” Vodafone’s CEO Bill Morrow said yesterday. “They want a reliable network experience where they live, work and holiday.”

“Vodafone customers living in or visiting regional areas will notice much improved mobile coverage from July, as will those who are travelling for work or heading off on holidays.”

Vodafone has invested big in 3G and 3G+ network coverage, in the aftermath of Vodafail.

The telco says it currently has its six million customers.

ACCC Accuse Elite Publisher Of Faking Ads

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The ACCC is on the warpath. The target? Elite Publishing boss Andrew Clifford who is being hunted down amid accusations of “harassment and misrepresentation”.The Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against four publishing companies and their sole director Andrew Clifford.

The companies owned by Clifford – Melbourne and Queensland based Exclusive Media & Publishing, Elite Publishing Group, Wiltshire Publishers, Superior Publications – offered $500 ads in its community magazines, which were never distributed to readers.

Elite Group titles cover everything from promotional products, bedding, flooring and suppliers.

And to top it off, the magazines falsely conned businesses into signing up for paid ads, by faking an order posing as free subscription toe magazines.

“The ACCC alleges the companies never intended to and never did distribute 500 copies of any of their magazines as represented,” it said in a statement today.

“After the businesses signed and returned those documents, the publishing companies claimed that they had in fact agreed to buy advertising services, for which they demanded payment.”

Clifford’s media outlets also “used harassment, coercion and acted unconscionably” when pursuing those payments.

Dodgy conduct allegedly included threatening legal proceedings against the businesses if they did not pay or falsely claiming legal action had already commenced when in fact nothing could have been further from the truth.

The competition watchdog is seeking: declarations that the conduct of the companies contravened various sections of the Trade Practices Act 1974 and that Clifford was “knowingly concerned” in the contraventions and injunctions restraining him from engaging in similar conduct in the future.

 

Clifford will also have to cough up compensation and will be disqualifed from managing corporations, if the ACCC has its way.

The case it to be heard before Justice Dowsett at 9:30 A.M. on 18 October.

Bye Bye, BlackBerry: Profits Crash, Balsillie Dash

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BlackBerry has hit a ditch after $125m losses and its co-founder leaves the board.


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Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry fourth quarter results and full fiscal year end March 3, released today, make for some dreary reading as iPhone and Android continue to eat into its customer base.

RIM’s reported GAAP net loss in Q4 was $125 million, while revenue fell 19% to $4.2 billion in three months to March 3, compared to Q3.

Shipments of BlackBerry smartphones, once the darling of the phone industry, fell 21% to 11.1 million in its latest quarter, while 500,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets were also shipped.

This compares abysmally to Apple dizzying iPhone sales which topped 37 million for Oct-Dec last, while iPad sales topped 15 million – on net profits $13.1bn.

RIM revenues for the fiscal year was $18.4 billion, down 7%. However, GAAP net profit for fiscal 2012 was $1.2 billion, or $2.22 per share diluted – just one third of the $3.4 billion figure it recorded a year ago.

This news comes as a series of senior management figures have also jumped ship. Jim Balsillie, former Co-CEO of the Company, has resigned from the RIM Board, citing “retirement,” after recently stepping down from the top job.

“As I complete my retirement from RIM, I’m grateful for this remarkable experience and for the opportunity to have worked with outstanding professionals who helped turn a Canadian idea into a global success,” Balsillie said.

Barb Stymiest, Chair of RIM’s Board of Directors, praised Balsillie for his 20 years of service:

“His energy, drive and enthusiasm helped build one of the most successful technology companies of our time.”

David Yach, Chief Technology Officer of Software is also to leave Canadian based RIM after 13 years as is Jim Rowan, COO, Global Operations, who “has decided to pursue other interests,” RIM said in a statement today.

“The Company is currently undertaking a search to hire a single COO with responsibilities to run the Company’s operations. “

However, despite the carnage RIM’s new CEO, Thorsten Heins, remains positive: “I have assessed many aspects of RIM’s business during my first 10 weeks as CEO.

“The Company has substantial strengths that can be further leveraged to improve our financial performance, including RIM’s global network infrastructure, a strong enterprise offering and a large and growing base of more than 77 million subscribers.

“I’m very excited about the prospects for the BlackBerry 10 platform, which is on track for the latter part of calendar 2012,” he added.

However, Heins said he recognised the “significant” business challenges the troubled giant faces over the next several quarters and said he was “taking the necessary steps to address them,” citing the delivery of BlackBerry’s 10 platform and refocusing resources on “key opportunities” including BlackBerry Mobile Fusion.

 

RIM is also plutting the heavies on management performance with management accountability and process discipline among the new regimes in place at the top.

The ailing smartphone maker said it is undertaking “a comprehensive review of strategic opportunities including partnerships and joint ventures, licensing, and other ways to leverage RIM’s assets.”

RIM also said it will to discontinue providing specific quantitative guidance. 

Not So ‘Good Guy’ Sacked After Facebook Slagging

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Not so good: Good Guys employee sacked after taking to social network to complain about wages error has had his dismissal upheld by Fair Work Australia.

Following the Facebook rant, in which Damien O’Keefe branded his employer”c****’ and other expletives, and led to his sacking last year, the Queensland native appealed to Fair Work claiming dismissal was “harsh, unjust and unreasonable” and in contravention to the Fair Work Act 2009.

“Damien O’Keefe wonders how the f*** work can be so f***ing useless and mess up my pay again,” the ex-Good Guy who had been working at the retailer’s Townsville branch  for four years. 

“C**** are going down tomorrow,” he added. The man’s job had recently changed to “Geek Guy” – referring to staff who repaired computer equipment. 

At that time O’Keefe commenced working under a new commission structure but claimed he had not been paid monies due on several occasions. 

O’Keefe had been having discussions with Ms Taylor, who was in charge of wages, regarding his pay issues for some period of time and “had advised The Good Guys Director Mr Williams that the target of his comments had been Ms Taylor,” Fair Work noted in a statement.  

The Good Guys argued its actions were justified and what was published was “done so publicly on his [O’Keefe] Facebook page where other employees could see what was written.” 

Several other Good Guys staff were friends with the man on the social network. 

However, O’Keefe argued his Facebook webpage is set to the maximum privacy setting and only his select group of friends (70 people) could see what he had written and said that that nowhere on his webpage was the Good Guys mentioned.

On returning to work after the incriminating expletives were written, Williams told his employee he understood the rant to be his ‘letter of resignation’ and was told to resign, but refused and called his boss a  “fat lazy c..t.’

O’Keefe alleges Williams grabbed him and physically pulled him towards the office door and was sent letter of termination days later. 

 

However, the disputes body refused O’Keefe’s claims. 

“Rather than pursue the matter at a higher level within the respondent’s business, the applicant dealt with his frustrations by airing them on Facebook” and “was aware that there were other work colleagues on his Facebook group who could see the comments made and this is precisely what happened,” Fair Work said. 


His actions were contrary to dispute settlement provisions outlined in employee handbook and “common sense” would dictate one could not write and publish insulting and threatening comments about another employee. 


Retail “Very Weak”, No Change Forecast: Economist

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As NAB reported June online sales were down, there was worse news for brick and mortar stores

Traditional store sales are “very weak” at the moment, growing at about 2% per annum to May 2013, Alan Oster, Nab chief Economist told CN.

“I suspect that’s not going to change anytime soon,” he warned, which is a depressing prospect for retailers looking to fight online competition and price deflation. 
Consumers are deleveraging and saving their pennies, says Oster.
NAB Online Sales Index released yesterday, showed web sales also slowed to 14% growth yoy in June – valued at $13.9 billion. 
Internet purchases were equivalent to 6.2% of the traditional bricks & mortar retail sales in the year to May. 
Official June retail figures are out next week. 
The Australian Retailers Association today called on the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates to at least 2.5 percent when it meets next Tuesday.
“”While the RBA lowered rates in May, this small cut was simply not enough to help retailers who need relief from consumers’ reluctance to spend,” said ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman. 
He also said retailers who are struggling to “keep their heads above water” on the back of recent increases in minimum wage, Medicare levy, continually weak trade figures, higher operational costs and penalty rate rises.

Fresh Phones People: Woolies Flog Huawei, LG Mobiles On Optus

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The fresh food people are now the smartphone people. Welcome to Woolworths Mobile, powered by Optus, no less.


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Pictured: LG Optimus ME
And fresh off the Android batch are two new models, namely the Huawei Sonic and LG Optimus ME smartphones. 

Woolies new mobiles will carry $29 and $49 caps from the Optus network, according to reports. 

The cheaper cap will offer $500 worth of talk time with $250 for Optus-to Optus calls, while the $49 deal will give $1000 in calls. However, the call tariffs are said to be pricey. 

Both plans will also give a generous 5GB of data with a 45-day usage period.  

LG Optimus, 3 inch touch device already sold by Optus is to have an asking price of $138, according to Lifehacker. The Huawei will go for $188. Huawei’s Sonic will be running the latest 2.3 version of Android, however, it is not clear what version of Android the LG optimus will run.
 
Vodafone sells the same LG Android model on Infinite (calls and text) on plans ranging from $45 to $100. 

And that’s not all you can now buy as you grab a sliced loaf and litre of milk from the supermarket or Caltex service stations, also owned by the Woolworths group. 

Customers have already been able get their hands on the supermarket’s EveryDay Mobile $2 prepaid 3G SIM pack since 2009, which offers 0.15c texts, 30c calls with two basic mobiles Nokia 2323 and Motorola WX160. 

The $2 starter pack will also be required to activate the new smartphones. 

Woolworths, as owners of Big W and Dick Smith is no stranger to mobile retail. 

The latter recently reported a surprise upturn in CE sales figures – 7.1% – despite the dreary consumer momentum ailing Aussie retailing sector at present. 


This new partnership with Optus could see the mobile carrier increase its customer base considerably, considering Woolworth’s massive consumer reach. 

However, whether this venture will appeal to supermarket customers remains to be seen.  

Tabs-On-Cheap: $299 10″ Creative ZiiO Android 8GB Audio Hub

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ZiiO: Creative’s new audio Android tab is going cheap.

The 10″ ZiiO “pure android audio” touch slate on Froyo 2.2 is a music lovers dream bringing high end sound to all multimedia with X-Fi  technology, Bluetooth and apt-X capabilities to create “breathtakingly” realistic sound.

Stream movies, high-fidelity tunes and listen to games music at the touch of a button via wireless Bluetooth technology and X-Fi Crystalizer and Expand for crisper sound. ZiiO’s apt-X codec and lossless audio format support also brings “seamless, high-quality experience.”

And connect it to speakers creates a pure wireless entertainment hub says its Singapore based maker. 

The tab also allows viewing of content in HD on a 1024×600 res screen and also features HDMI out, allowing connections to HDTV to stream movies and images to the big screen, SD card for gamers and supports Wireless LAN for web browsing and access to mobile hotspots. 

And the 10″ ZiiO has just had it price slashed from $369 to $299 for the 8GB model while the 16GB is only $30 more at $329 – roughly half the price of iPad 2 (at $579), Samsung Galaxy Tab – its forthcoming 10.1v Tab to cost $729 outright and Acer’s 10.1″ Iconia on Honeycomb 3.0 retails here at $579. 
And to sweeten the deal Creative are throwing in a leather case and are delivering free to Aussie customers. 

However, the main drawback compared to most other tabs hitting the shelves is ZiiO is running the now dated Android 2.2 OS, considering many newer tabs boasts Honeycomb, although for a budget tab it is not to be sniffed at. 

Creative’s ZiiStore also has loads of apps, games to eBooks. 

 

The 7″ ZiiO is also on the cheap for $249.95 for 8 GB and both models are available on Creative’s online store.  

Telstra Pulls Plug On Adam

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Telstra has pulled out of the purchase of Adam Internet.

Telstra proposal to acquire South Australian ISP Adam Internet, announced in October last, has been killed off following concerns raised by the competition watchdog, ACCC.

Telstra yesterday confirmed the deal would now not go ahead.
The ACCC had raised a number of concerns with the acquisition, which Telstra said it had attempted to address, but in the end had not been able to secure approval in time. 
iiNet and Optus both made submissions to ACCC seeking to prevent the nation’s biggest telco from snapping up South Australia ISP, late last year. 
Telstra had proposed to retain the Adam brand, its 90,000 plus customers and run it as a stand-alone subsidiary, but intended to expanding the ISP nationally.
The statement of issues released by the watchdog states:
“The ACCC’s preliminary view is that post acquisition, Telstra would have the ability and incentive to utilise its market power to favour Adam over its wholesale customers in the provision of access to its network infrastructure.”
Telstra Chief Customer Officer Gordon Ballantyne said the telco was “very disappointed” by the outcome. 
“We believe this transaction would have provided real benefit to Australian consumers and would have added new competition into the broadband market,” Ballantyne said.
Executive Chairman of Adam Internet Greg Hicks said the company was “disappointed this important condition precedent could not be achieved in a commercially acceptable time frame, and therefore we will no longer be proceeding.”