Displaying items by tag: Mitch Fifield

The Coalition Government's decision to provide fibre connections to about 75% of homes on the NBN, making a total of eight million in all by the end of 2023, has been welcomed by tech experts, but there have been some reservations about what the policy would actually achieve.

The Coalition Government made the right choice back in 2013 to adopt a multi-technology mix for rolling out the national broadband network, ditching a Labor plan to have fibre to 93% of homes and service the rest through fixed wireless and satellite, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says.

Newly appointed Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says one of his key priorities will be completing the rollout of the national broadband network.

Less than two weeks remain until the Australian Federal Election, and the NBN has been one of the topics mentioned the least – even though there has been much talk about the network between polls.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield claims the NBN policy announced by the Australian Labor Party on Tuesday is an admission that "the NBN technology debate of the last six years was just about politics".

New laws that target social media platforms which allow live streaming and broadcast of violent crimes has been passed by the Australian Parliament.

The Federal Government will fine social media and online platforms operating in the country $10 million for serious breaches of the Privacy Act, or thrice the value of any benefit derived from the breach.

NBN services are available to three-quarters of Australian premises, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has said.

The Australian Labor Party has described as "ridiculous" a claim made by the government that the NBN Co — which released its half-yearly results on Monday — was continuing to exceed its targets.

Telecommunications and technology industry veteran Michael Malone has been re-appointed as a non-executive director of the board of NBN Co, the company building Australia’s national broadband network.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has reacted to Labor's claim that the government has no communications policy roadmap in place after more than two years of announcing it, by claiming that the Labor Party gets very hung up on documents and gestures, rather than delivery, in the communications portfolio.

Labor Shadow Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has taken another potshot at her Coalition counterpart, Mitch Fifield, questioning why the communication policy roadmap touted by the government in 2016 is still under development.

The Federal Government has released another $17 million towards an online safety package for children, which includes an education package and resources for parents and carers of kids under five.

Australia's second biggest telco, Singtel Optus, says Wednesday's announcement by the Federal Government about arrangements for the Universal Service Obligation being retained as such does not reflect "real changes in policy, market and technological realities".

The Australian Labor Party has, predictably, slammed the Federal Government for avoiding any mention of what it calls "inconvenient metrics" in the NBN Co's first-quarter results which were announced on Monday.

The Australian Labor Party says Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has finally dumped his original plan to abolish the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman after the government put forward a list of recommendations that it said would strengthen the role of the TIO.

The Australian Government has made recommendations for further protections for telco consumers, including a strengthening of the role of the Telecommunications Ombudsman.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the peak body representing telecommunications users, has welcomed the announcement made by ACMA that an inquiry into outages of the triple zero service would lead to tightening of protections for consumers.

The Coalition Government will introduce changes to the copyright law on Thursday, to give creative industries what it calls "even more powerful weapons" to fight copyright infringement by sites based outside the country.

The NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, the NBN, says it will offer additional support for unmonitored medical alarm users who get connected to the network.