ITWire

A proposal by auDA to impose tight security requirements on domain name registrars has gained wide approval but the head of the largest registrar, NetRegistry, warns that it could be overly onerous, and drive smaller registrars out of the market.

The Government is mulling over requests from the security and medical industries for service providers to be able to add their own backup power source to the optical network terminator (ONT) to both provide longer backup for the PSTN equivalent telephone service than the few hours of the current battery, and to provide backup for IP services provided via the ethernet port.

An online and mobile-phone based self-help programme that promises results within eight weeks has been launched by the Federal government as part of its e-mental health strategy.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy has told Channel Ten that about 30 percent of the NBN, including the entire satellite and wireless components, would survive a Coalition election victory, so long as a Coalition Government honoured existing contracts.

The ACCC has confirmed its draft decision, issued in May, to approve the agreement between NBN Co and Optus for the migration of Optus' HFC subscribers to the NBN and the decommissioning of parts of Optus' HFC network.

Release of the latest broadband uptake statistics from the OECD showing Australia going backwards in terms of per capita penetration of fixed broadband services has given Liberal MP Paul Fletcher an opportunity to slag off Stephen Conroy, but what neither of them have mentioned is that, with over 16 million wireless broadband subscribers, Australia ranks eighth worldwide at 74.1 percent penetration.

In late 2009, Microsoft agreed to offer users a choice of browser as part of an anti-competitive dispute settlement with the European Union. It seems they 'forgot' to add the choice to Windows 7 service pack 1 in 2011.

The telecomms industry has dodged a bullet with the acceptance by ACMA of the updated Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code (TCP) by ACMA. The self-regulation body Communications Alliance has responded to calls for improved consumer protection with some significant improvements. New standards will apply to information provided to consumers, how products are advertised, what is presented on the bill, and complaint-handling procedures.