Displaying items by tag: Stephen Jones

When will the Federal Government start telling the public the truth about the situation it faces with Facebook, after the social media giant declared, on 29 February, that it would not be renewing deals it had struck in 2021 with Australian media companies, and then followed up by shutting its news tab in Australia?

Facebook parent Meta has decided to pull the plug on Australian media deals it did three years ago, with the company saying on Thursday it would deprecate Facebook News, a dedicated tab for news, in April.

A Labor Government, if elected, will boost the digital skills of Australians through the injection of $25 million to drive skills development in regional Australia.

The Australian Labor Party has expressed concern over the state of the fixed-wireless service offered by the NBN Co and identified in the second report of the Joint Standing Committee on the NBN as likely to be due to congestion.

The Australian Labor Party says there is no room for complacency as far as the consumer experience on the national broadband network goes, with complaints about the network increasing by 53% in the latest report from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

Under pressure from the Federal Government, the NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, has backed down on a decision to charge rural and regional users $20 more for their fixed wireless 50/20Mbps plans.

Rural and regional NBN customers will have to pay an extra $20 for 50/20Mbps plans they take on fixed wireless, according to a statement made to parliament's Joint Standing Committee on the NBN on Wednesday.

The chief of NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, has blamed gamers for congestion at peak times on the fixed wireless network and hinted that they may be subject to slower speeds to fix the problem.

The Australian Labor Party says it is committed to fast, reliable and affordable Internet for the country, and that means more fibre in whatever remains of the NBN rollout after the next election which it expects to win.

The Labor Party has called on NBN Co, the builders of the national broadband network, to accelerate its efforts to address the root cause of problems affecting the migration experience of consumers moving to the network.

The move to 5G mobile services in regional Australia and metropolitan areas has taken a further step forward with the Federal Government’s announcement that 125 MHz of spectrum in the 3.6 GHz band will be sold at competitive auction.

The Labor Party says the release of the Productivity Commission report into the Universal Service Obligation (USO) highlights the imperative to reframe the objective for universal telecommunications services to provide baseline broadband and voice services as the NBN rolls out.

The Australian Labor Party has adopted a wait-and-see policy on the decision by the competition regulator not to declare wholesale mobile roaming and open up telecommunications to greater market competition.

Two federal Labor shadow ministers have slammed the NBN Co over a "botched" rollout which they say has left emergency services in a remote part of Western Australia without satellite communications services.

The Labor Party is looking at a return to its "original vision” and plan for the National Broadband Network (NBN), according to Shadow Regional Communications Minister Stephen Jones, who told a digital forum in Brisbane on Wednesday the party is “committed” to getting the NBN back on track.