Displaying items by tag: Bushfires

Seven Canberra-based startups have received between $10,000 and $30,000 in matched funding in the latest Innovation Connect round.

A new online bushfire best practice guide on how to improve the bushfire resilience of Australian homes and gardens has been launched by Australia’s national science agency CSIRO.

Australia is to develop a nationally consistent bushfire modelling and prediction capability under a new agreement between the CSIRO’s data and digital specialist arm Data61 and the National Council for Fire and Emergency Services (AFAC).

With 2020 a year we'll never forget, what were the top searches by Aussies during the year on Google, as reported by Google? There's also a great three minute film that wraps up the year and shows that we all searched "why" more than ever.

The RACV has announced a $1 million investment in solar and battery installations for bushfire-prone areas of Victoria over the next two years, in a move it says will improve safety for isolated communities that could otherwise be cut off from power and communications during emergencies.

Telco Singtel Optus will go ahead with plans to sell 70% of its "passive" towers, which are estimated to be worth $2 billion, to help pay for its rollout of 5G infrastructure.

GUEST OPINION by Brendan Maree, Vice President Asia Pacific at 8x8: As Australia emerges from its COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, businesses are coming to terms with how they will need to operate under ‘new normal’ conditions.

The Federal Government has announced grants to four major telcos for temporary, portable communications facilities that can be deployed to overcome network outages during bushfires and natural disasters.

National electricity and gas industry distribution body Energy Networks Australia (ENA) and telecoms lobby group and peak industry body Communications Alliance have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at helping further improve collaboration and knowledge sharing between the two sectors to better respond to emergency situations. 

Optus and the Australian National University (ANU) are working together to develop a national system designed to detect bushfires early and put them out within minutes.

Telecoms lobby group and peak industry body Communications Alliance has welcomed the release of a set of draft propositions by the counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements, and its focus on information flows between Governments and essential infrastructure owners and operators, to enhance coordinated engagement and response during national disasters.

Telstra has suffered a 14% drop in profits with the telco putting the decline down to pressure put on it by the the coronavirus pandemic and the national bushfire crisis.

NBN Co says it has achieved or exceeded its National Broadband Network construction targets for 25 consecutive months by more than 230,000 premises, making 11.73 million premises ready to connect by 30 June this year.

Optus is continuing its relationship with text-based counselling service Virtualpsychologist, first introduced to provide wellbeing and mental health support services during bushfires in rural and remote parts of the country, and now with the Covid 19 pandemic crisis.

Despite significant impacts on telecommunications services and infrastructure - including the impact of the COVID-19 crisis - telco customer satisfaction has remained steady over the past three quarters, according to a new survey published by Australian telecommunications industry peak body, Communications Alliance.

HP Australia has pledged to donate over $400,000 worth of essential technology to help NSW students and schools in regions affected by bushfires get back on their feet during the COVID 19 pandemic, through its Kids Fund initiative in partnership with UNICEF Australia and childrens’ charity Royal Far West (RFW).

Residential consumers and small businesses made 32,441 complaints about phone and Internet services to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) over three months between January to March this year - with a massive 70% of the complaints coming from users not having a working phone or Internet service.

Mobile network outages during the 2019-20 bushfires were overwhelmingly due to loss of power rather than fire damage, according to a new report from the telecommunications regulator ACMA.

Online job advertisements portal SEEK has seen a fall in ad volume of 6.5% year-on-year in January, and 6.4% year-on-year for December 2019.

Optus has opened applications for its Green Shoots grants program as part of its efforts to help restore connectivity for small businesses affected by recent bushfires across Australia.