The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is the peak advocacy group for Australian communications consumers. It receives Australian government funding to carry out its work, part of which ACCAN distributes to researchers.
ACCAN is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia under section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. This funding is recovered from a levy on telecommunications carriers. [1]
The Telecommunications Act 1997 is an act of law in the Commonwealth of Australia.
ACCAN has campaigned for a government scheme to monitor NBN broadband performance. [2] The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is in the process of setting up such a scheme. It has selected SamKnows to operate the NBN testing system. [3]
After a surge in customer complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in late 2017, ACCAN called for improved consumer protections. [4]
Telstra Corporation Limited is Australia's largest telecommunications company which builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services.
Singtel Optus Pty Limited d/b/a Optus is the second largest telecommunications company in Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singtel since 2001. The company primarily trades under the Optus brand, while maintaining several wholly owned subsidiary brands, such as Virgin Mobile Australia in the mobile telephony market, Uecomm in the network services market and Alphawest in the ICT services sector.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian Government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Australian Communications Authority.
TPG Telecom Limited is an Australian telecommunications and IT company that specialises in consumer and business internet services as well as mobile telephone services. As of August 2015, TPG is the second largest internet service provider in Australia and is the largest mobile virtual network operator. As such, it has over 671,000 ADSL2+ subscribers, 358,000 landline subscribers and 360,000 mobile subscribers, and owns the second largest ADSL2+ network in Australia, consisting of 391 ADSL2+ DSLAMs.
Internet in Christmas Island is supplied by SpeedCast. According to the 2016 Australian census, 78.5% of the population accessed the Internet from home.
The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia. Prior to 1 January 2011, it was known as the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA). The Act is the legislative vehicle for competition law in Australia, and seeks to promote competition, fair trading as well as providing protection for consumers. It is administered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and also gives some rights for private action. Schedule 2 of the CCA sets out the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The Australian Federal Court has the jurisdiction to determine private and public complaints made in regard to contraventions of the Act.
Allan James Asher is an Australian lawyer, consumer advocate and campaigner.
The Universal Service Fund (USF) is a system of telecommunications subsidies and fees managed by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intended to promote universal access to telecommunications services in the United States. The FCC established the fund in 1997 in compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The FCC is a government agency that implements and enforces America's communication regulations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. territories. The fund reported a total of $7.82 billion in disbursements in 2014, divided among its four programs. The fund is supported by charging telecommunications companies a fee which is set quarterly. As of the fourth quarter of 2018, the rate is 20.1% of a telecom company's interstate and international end-user revenues.
The Australian Minister for Communications has overall responsibility for broadcasting, the information and communications technology industry, the information economy, and telecommunications within Australia.
Permanent Internet access was first available in Australia to universities via AARNet in 1989. Pegasus Networks pioneered public use in June 1989. The first commercial dial-up Internet Service Provider (ISP) appeared in capital cities soon after, and by the mid-1990s almost the entire country had a range of choices of dial-up ISPs. Today, Internet access is available through a range of technologies, i.e. hybrid fibre coaxial cable, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and satellite Internet. The Australian Government, in partnership with the industrial sector, began rolling out a nationwide Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and improved fixed wireless and satellite access through the National Broadband Network in July 2009. Subsequently, the roll out was down graded to a Multi-Technology Mix on the promise of it being less expensive with earlier completion.
Ombudsmen are independent agencies which assist when a dispute arises between individuals and industry bodies or government agencies. Government ombudsman services are free to the public, like many other ombudsman and dispute resolution services, and are a means of resolving disputes outside of the court systems. Australia has an ombudsman assigned for each state—as well as an ombudsman for the Commonwealth of Australia. As laws differ between states just one process, or policy, cannot be used across the board. All government bodies are within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman. The Commonwealth Ombudsman is also the Defence Force Ombudsman, Immigration Ombudsman, Postal Industry Ombudsman, Law Enforcement Ombudsman, VET Student Loans Ombudsman, Overseas Students Ombudsman and the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman. Many industries, such as aged care, banking, energy and water, telecommunications, etc, also have ombudsmen or similar bodies that assist with dispute resolution.
Vodafone Australia or Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) is a mobile telecommunications company and Internet service provider that operates the Vodafone brand in Australia. The result of a 2009 merger between Vodafone Australia and Hutchison 3G Australia, it is Australia's third-largest mobile carrier with approximately 5.8 million subscribers, A$3.5 billion in annual revenue and a 19 per cent market share making it Australia's third largest mobile telecommunications provider behind Telstra and Optus. It also offers fixed-line and wire broadband services via the National Broadband Network.
NBN Co Limited is an Australian government-owned corporation tasked to design, build and operate Australia's National Broadband Network as a monopoly wholesale broadband provider. It reports to two shareholder ministers: the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Communications. Restrictions on competing broadband providers are achieved through carrier license conditions (CLCs).
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is an Australian national wholesale open-access data network project. It includes wired and radio communication components rolled out and operated by NBN Co Limited. Retail service providers (RSPs), typically Internet service providers, contract with NBN to access the network and sell fixed internet access to end users.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is a member-funded Australian ombudsman service that provides external dispute resolution for consumers who are unable to resolve complaints with member financial services organisations.
MyRepublic is a multinational Internet company headquartered in Singapore. The company was formed to leverage Singapore's Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network. Since its initial launch in 2011, the company has expanded to three other countries - Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. MyRepublic primarily offers fibre broadband services in all four countries as well as ADSL plans in Australia, VDSL services in New Zealand, and cable TV packages in Indonesia. The company has a combined subscriber base of 200,000 across the four countries.
The Sky Muster satellites are two geostationary (GEO) communications satellites operated by NBN Co Limited and built by SSL. They were launched in 2015 and 2016 to provide fast broadband in very remote areas and offshore. They provide download speeds of up to 25 Mbit/s, and upload speeds of 5 Mbit/s.
The National Broadband Network had its origins in 2006 when the Federal Labor Opposition led by Kim Beazley committed the Australian Labor Party, if elected to government to a 'super-fast' national broadband network. Initial attempts to engage key businesses in Australian telecommunications in planning and development; and implementation and operation failed with NBN Co being set up in 2010 to have carriage of the 'largest infrastructure' project in Australia's history.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority or ‘AFCA’ is an external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme for consumers who are unable to resolve complaints with member financial services organisations. It is operated as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee was authorised by the then responsible minister, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Hon Kelly O'Dwyer MP in accordance with the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).