J59 Internet Service Providers Web Search Portals and Data Processing Services

Death of the dongle? USB mobile broadband usage declines as more Aussies tether smartphones

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-Nov-14

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 26.5 per cent of Australians aged 14+ had one or more mobile connections in the six months to September 2014. This compares with 30.7 per cent in the six months to September 2013. The survey also shows that 7.4 per cent of Australians now use a USB modem, down from 10.8 per cent, while the proportion who use tablet SIM cards has fallen from 4.3 per cent to 3.7 per cent. Meanwhile, almost 2.1 million Australians now use their smartphone as a modem in an average four-week period, compared with 1.9 million a year ago

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT

iiNet to tackle Optus, Telstra for NSW growth

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 24-Nov-14

CEO David Buckingham says listed ISP iiNet is keen to lift its market share in New South Wales against dominant telcos Telstra and Singtel Optus. Australia-wide, the company ranks just behind Optus, with 950,000 broadband subscribers to 1.03 million. iiNet’s sharemarket capitalisation has grown 380%-plus to $A1.3bn since 2009, as it has purchased rivals including Internode, Adam Internet and TransACT. While iiNet has only a 15% share of the overall fixed broadband market, in the segment of national broadband network connections it is 20%

CORPORATES
IINET LIMITED – ASX IIN, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, INTERNODE SYSTEMS PTY LTD, ADAM INTERNET PTY LTD, TRANSACT COMMUNICATIONS PTY LTD, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, M2 GROUP LIMITED – ASX MTU, CIMB SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NBN CO LIMITED

Optus lines up new content bundles

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Original article by Mitchell Bingemann
The Australian – Page: 21 : 14-Nov-14

Second-ranked Australian telco Singtel Optus has posted a rise in underlying net profit of 7.4% to $A417m in the half-year ending 30 September 2014. The mobile telephony division boosted its revenue 1.1% to $A2.7bn. However it suffered a drop of 92,000 in subscriber numbers, while there was also one of 207,000 in the mobile broadband segment. CEO Allen Lew says Optus will soon roll out new bundled deals with content providers, to reverse the under-performance of its fixed-broadband operation

CORPORATES
SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE HUTCHISON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SPOTIFY LIMITED

ROKT, eBay in digital ad deal

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Original article by Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-Nov-14

Bruce Buchanan, CEO of digital marketing company ROKT, has announced a new agreement with web auctions group eBay for the North American market. The Sydney-based firm forecasts revenue of up to $A200m by 2016 from the deal on targeted advertising for eBay users. In Australia, ROKT has Car­sales, Tigerair and Australia Post among its clients. The business has been provided with venture capital by the Square Peg Capital vehicle of Paul Bassat and James Packer, as well as by Lachlan Murdoch and Carsales CEO Greg Roebuck

CORPORATES
ROKT PTY LTD, EBAY INCORPORATED, CARSALES.COM LIMITED – ASX CRZ, AUSTRALIA POST, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, TIGER AIRWAYS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SQUARE PEG CAPITAL PTY LTD, JANCHOR PARTNERS LIMITED, PINCHME AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Insurance warning on Airbnb rental

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Original article by Mitchell Bingemann
The Australian – Page: 5 : 11-Nov-14

Online sharing services such as Airbnb for holiday homes and Uber for cars are becoming increasingly popular with Australian consumers. However, those considering agreements under which they provide their properties or vehicles have been warned by the Insurance Council of Australia to check with the provider of their policy. CEO Rob Whelan notes that their cover may not extend to public liability

CORPORATES
INSURANCE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AIRBNB AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AIRBNB INCORPORATED, UBER TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED, VICTORIA. TAXI SERVICES COMMISSION

Brakes put on ‘illegal’ UberX ride-sharing

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 20 : 4-Nov-14

The Victorian Taxi Services Commission has issued a stop order to mobile telephone-based car bookings group Uber, applying to its UberX service rather than the more expensive Uber Black. The former variant allows members of the general public to offer vehicles as chauffeured cars, without being licensed. Uber so far appears to be ignoring the cease-and-­desist letter written by the watchdog on 23 October 2014. Court action may follow, and would mean fines for the drivers of up to $A7,500 instead of just $A1,700

CORPORATES
UBER TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED, VICTORIA. TAXI SERVICES COMMISSION, VICTORIAN TAXI ASSOCIATION, MELBOURNE MAGISTRATES’ COURT, VICTORIA POLICE

Police to get access to data records

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Original article by Matthew Knott, James Massola, David Wroe
The Age – Page: 6 : 31-Oct-14

The Australian Government introduced new data retention laws into Parliament on 30 October 2014. Access to retained data will be restricted to criminal law enforcement agencies. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said the new laws could be used to prosecute those who download music and films without permission from copyright holders

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND AL-SHAM

Fare’s fair: Uber’s plea for reform

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Original article by Mitchell Bingemann
The Australian – Page: 19 : 29-Oct-14

Niall Wass, ­senior vice-president Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific at online chauffeur car bookings business Uber, has called for greater deregulation of the sector in Australia. He urged state governments to cease fining Uber drivers, who operate in competition to the incumbent taxicabs industry. Under particular scrutiny is the UberX service that allows private vehicle owners to offer ride sharing at about a 50% discount to taxi fares. Wass noted that the state of California in the US has created a new licensing system to cater to emerging businesses like Uber

CORPORATES
UBER TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED, NEW SOUTH WALES. ROADS AND MARITIME SERVICES, LYFT INCORPORATED, SIDE.CR LLC, TAXIS COMBINED SERVICES PTY LTD, SILVER TOP TAXI SERVICE LIMITED

Telstra invests $1bn in Asian growth

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Original article by Mitchell Bingemann
The Australian – Page: 21 : 24-Oct-14

Those attending the 2014 strategy day of Telstra on 23 October heard from CFO Andy Penn that the telco was set to allocate as much as $A1bn to a renewed investment push for the Asian region. This will involve boosting its global enterprise services unit, participating in the transition from the 2G and 3G mobile telephony standards to 4G, and providing consultancy services to other telcos on the roll-out of data-focused network infrastructure

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, TELKOM INDONESIA

Wotif shareholders approve $703m Expedia takeover deal

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 10-Oct-14

Healthscope is set to replace Wotif.com in the S&P/ASX 200 Index after the latter’s acquisition by US-based Expedia was approved by more than 99 per cent of shareholders. Expedia is likely to have a 45 per cent share of Australia’s online hotel booking market following the acquisition, which is still subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board and the New Zealand Commerce Commission

CORPORATES
WOTIF.COM HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX WTF, EXPEDIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, NEW ZEALAND. COMMERCE COMMISSION, WEBJET LIMITED – ASX WEB, PRICELINE.COM, BOOKING.COM BV, AGODA COMPANY PTE LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN HOTELS ASSOCIATION, CIMB SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, HEALTHSCOPE LIMITED – ASX HSO, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL INDICES