J58 Telecommunications Services

Long search ahead for new telco chief

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Original article by Jared Lynch, Eric Johnston, Greg Brown, Tansy Harcourt
The Australian – Page: 6 : 21-Nov-23

Optus has appointed CFO Michael Venter as its interim CEO following the resignation of Kelly Bayer Rosmarin in the wake of the recent network outage. Bayer Rosmarin told Optus staff that she had decided that her resignation was in the best interests of the telco. She was widely criticised for her response to the outage, and she had attracted similar criticism over her handling of Optus’s data breach in 2022. Yuen Kuan Moon, the CEO of parent company Singapore Telecommunications, says Bayer Rosmarin had led Optus during a "challenging period", and stressed that Optus is an "integral part" of the company’s business.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED

Identity of third party that brought down Optus network revealed

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Original article by David Swan, Ben Grubb
The Age – Page: Online : 15-Nov-23

Optus recently disclosed that its recent network outage was caused by a software upgrade by an ‘international peering network’, but declined to name this third party. However, sources close to Optus have revealed that it was the telco’s own parent company, Singapore Telecommunications; the botched upgrade is said to have been made on the Singtel Internet Exchange, and subsequently cascaded through the Optus network. Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin will appear before a Senate hearing into the outage on Friday.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED

Telstra stands by its $1m backing for Voice

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Original article by Matt Bell
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 18-Oct-23

Telstra’s support for the ‘Yes’ campaign for an Indigenous Voice to parliament came under scrutiny at the telco’s AGM on Tuesday. Chairman John Mullen said the decision to contribute $1m to the campaign had been deemed to be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders; he emphasised that the personal views of Telstra’s executives and directors played no role in the decision. However, Australian Shareholders’ Association CEO Rachel Waterhouse contends that companies should only support a social cause if it aligns with their strategy and shareholders are fully informed.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIAN SHAREHOLDERS’ ASSOCIATION

Optus complaints up nearly 40pc after data hack

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Original article by Joseph Lam
The Australian – Page: 16 : 8-Feb-23

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s report for the December quarter shows that it received 17,903 complaints during the period, which is 9.9 per cent higher than the September quarter. Complaints about Optus rose by 39.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter, in the wake of the data breach that affected some 11 million customers. The TIO received a total of 6,346 complaints against Optus, which accounted for 36 per cent of all complaints against the nation’s 10 biggest telcos. Telstra received the most complaints overall (6,819); however, this was lower than the previous quarter.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY OMBUDSMAN LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

TPG could lift mobile prices despite block on sharing deal

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Original article by Lucas Baird
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 23-Dec-22

Morningstar analyst Brian Han says the proposed regional mobile network sharing deal between TPG Telecom and Telstra is "not completely dead", given that both telcos intend to appeal the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s ruling. Amongst other things, the ACCC took the view that approving the deal would have given TPG an incentive to increase its mobile prices as soon as the network-sharing arrangement was completed. However, Eric Choi of Barrenjoey contends that TPG would have been likely to increase its mobile prices even if the ACCC had approved the deal. He notes that TPG is the only major telco that has not yet increased its consumer prices.

CORPORATES
TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPG, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, BARRENJOEY CAPITAL PARTNERS PTY LTD

Optus tells customers affected by data breach they can no longer use passports as online ID

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Original article by Tory Shepherd
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 18-Oct-22

Sydney Optus customer Daniel Reeders says he is angry that the telco did not tell customers whose passports were exposed under its recent data breach that it would ask the federal government to block those numbers from the national Document Verification System. Reeders does not drive so his passport number is his main means of identification, and he was one of over 100,000 Optus customers who had their passport numbers exposed by the hack; he had been told that he did not need to begin the process of getting a new one, prior to learning what Optus had asked the government to do.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD

Hot price for Telstra’s $2.8bn tower sale

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Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 15 : 1-Jul-21

Telstra has struck a deal to sell a 49 per cent stake in its mobile phone tower network to a consortium that includes the Future Fund. The telco had previously flagged plans to divest a stake in the InfraCo Towers business via an auction process later in 2020, but Telstra CEO Andrew Penn says the consortium approached it with a "compelling" proposal. Telstra will return about half of the net proceeds of the $2.8bn transaction to its shareholders. Optus is also looking at selling its communications towers.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD

Telstra reveals immediate 5G plans as it awaits innovation

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Original article by James Fernyhough
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 5-Jan-21

The first auction of 5G millimetre wave spectrum will be undertaken in March, with each bidder to be given the opportunity to buy up to one gigahertz of spectrum. Telstra head of networks Nikos Katinakis says that one of the telco’s first uses for the spectrum it intends to purchase will be for 5G fixed wireless products that will aim to compete with the NBN. He says Telstra will target these products at locations where "the NBN does not provide what the customer wants", and that it will target neighbourhoods rather than individuals

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPG

Telstra fined $50m for unconscionable sales

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Original article by James Fernyhough
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 27-Nov-20

Telstra has agreed to pay a $50 million penalty over the sale of mobile phone plans to 108 Indigenous consumers between 2016 and 2018. The sales were made at five Telstra stores in Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission stating the sales were made despite the telco knowing that the Indigenous consumers did not understand the product and could not afford it. The ACCC has described Telstra’s action as "unconscionable", while it noted the customers had been left with average debts of $7,400.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards 2019: Australia’s telecommunications and utilities winners

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-Feb-20

The annual Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards have been presented in Melbourne. The telecommunications and utilities category consisted of six awards, two of which were won by previous award winner, Internode. Internode’s wins in the Internet Service Provider and Home Phone Provider categories took its annual award tally to seven. In both categories it won eight monthly awards, out of a possible 12, throughout 2019. In the two mobile phone categories, ALDImobile narrowly clinched its second annual Mobile Phone Service Provider award, adding to its first win in 2015. Google Phone won the Handset Provider of the Year award, becoming the only provider to have ever beaten the iPhone. In what may be a changing of the guard, both utilities awards went to first-time winners. Powershop finished on top in the Electricity Provider of the Year category, after a dominant year which consisted of 12 monthly award wins. Simply Energy also won its first annual award in the Gas Provider of the Year category.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED