Australian ISPs Put Under Financial Microscope

From Australia.internet.com

Internet service providers in Australia have been put on notice that their entire industry will be investigated for financial improprieties, after a string of company failures had threatened to wipe out their respectability.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the corporate regulatory body, will conduct inspections of every financial document held by ISPs to determine the level of adherence to company laws.

An ASIC spokesperson said that three or four providers had already had action taken against them for legal breaches.

The inspections come just after a series of highly public collapses by medium-size providers, including Geko and Pronet.

Sydney-based Geko went under after racking up bills worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with telecommunications providers early in this year, while Pronet left many home users in Brisbane out of pocket when it crashed several months ago.