Stuart is one of Australia's most experienced telecoms specialist writers. He has been writing on IT since 1984, specialising in telecoms since 1986 and for over 20 years has edited and published the weekly telecoms industry newsletter Exchange, now published daily by iTWire as ExchangeDaily - widely read by executives at the highest levels of the Australian telecoms industry - among telcos, suppliers, government and others.

An electronics engineer by training, he came to journalism almost by accident. He was teaching maintenance technicians on IBM-compatible mainframe computers for Facom Australia (now Fujitsu) in late 1983 when he saw an advertisement for an IT journalist at Computerworld. Thinking this might be more fun than dealing with the mind-numbing details of the technology, he applied, and hasn't stopped writing since.

Stuart was born and educated in the UK where he gained a Higher National Certificate in Electronic Engineering and a post-graduate certificate in Technical Education from the University of London.

He worked as an electronics engineer in the offshore oil industry in the UK, the Middle East and Nigeria and as a technical college lecturer in London before embarking on a six month journey through Asia that brought him to Australia in 1980.

After watching the antics of the UK's new prime minister Margaret Thatcher he determined not to return, became an Australian resident, later a citizen and has lived here ever since.

Optus gains mobile subscribers, Vodafone loses

Optus has managed to grow its mobile subscriber base despite Telstra's addition of a massive one million new services in the past six months, but Vodafone continues to lose customers.
 

The Weather Channel on WiFi for Melbourne commuters

Users of a free WiFi service to be offered at Flinders Street station from March will be the first in Australia to get weather information via the US's Weather Channel.
 

Qld Government maps out NBN exploitation strategy

The Queensland Government has set out a four year plan designed to enable the state to maximise its opportunities from the rollout of the NBN
 

NEC and CA Technologies team to secure smartphones & tablets

NEC has teamed up with CA Technologies to develop a cloud-based security service based on CA technology that will be offered to telcos and content service providers to enable them to manage and secure their customers' smartphones and tablets.
 

ITU progresses cloud interoperability

The International Telecommunication Union's Telecoms sector (ITU-T) Study Group 13 (SG 13) has created a new working party on cloud computing.
 

Conroy sets spectrum caps in digital dividend auction

Communications minister, senator Stephen Conroy has capped the amount of spectrum any single organisation will be able to acquire in the upcoming 700MHz and 2.5GHz auctions at 2x20MHz in the 700MHz and 2x40MHz in the 2.5 GHz band.
 

Macquarie Telecom and Dell greenfield data centre sites added to AGIMO panel

Macquarie Telecom's 'greenfield' data centre site in Fairbairn ACT has been added to the Federal Government's data centre facilities panel, even though Macquarie has not yet committed to building a data centre on the site. Also added is a site owned by Dell at Hume in the ACT.
 

Cloudy outlook for the NBN - but that's good news

A New Zealand study into the potential applications and demand for high-speed broadband services has concluded that cloud computing services for consumers could be a major driver.
 

Telstra adds one million mobile services, but Sensis plummets

Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
 

Government launches digital copyright law review

The Federal Government has responded swiftly to the furore surrounding the copyright ruling on the Optus TV Now service: it has announced that the Australian Law Reform Commission will review the operation of copyright in the digital environment.