Paul Montgomery

The Australian government has appointed 13 industry representatives to the board of the new peak body for public key infrastructure (PKI), one of the many steps in a long process that will see most Australian public sector services delivered electronically. The chair of the National Electronic Authentication Council (NEAC) will be Fay Holthuyzen, deputy CEO […]

Three of Australia’s most high-profile Internet start-ups have posted significant losses for the last financial year. Content developer LibertyOne said it lost AUS$7.1 million (US$4.6 million) on revenues of AUS$18.4 million (US$12 million), with a negative earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $2 million (US$1.3 million). Over $13 million (US$8.5 million) of the […]

National telecom carrier Telstra, is expected to extend its Internet dominance in Australia with plans to launch asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) services in the next few weeks. Telstra is widely reported to be preparing business-targeted ADSL products to run over Australia’s copper-based telephony network, called the “local loop”, which it owns and operates because […]

Many Australian Net companies who have recently listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), are currently experiencing a slump in stock value due to what some industry experts are saying is market saturation. Online media group LibertyOne, which debuted at AUS$2 on December 14 last year, saw its stock value drop to AUS$0.92 at the […]

The number of Australian households with connections to the Internet jumped by almost 20 per cent in the last quarter, according to the latest survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The number of households with Internet access rose from 1.28 to 1.52 million, a jump of 18.8 per cent, the quarterly ABS survey […]

The corporate arm of Australian ISP OzEmail has been relaunched under the name of UUNet by its owner, MCI Worldcom, with a promise that it wants to change its relationship with its closest rival, the majority public-owned Telstra, to become the largest ISP in Australia. Peter Van Camp, president of Internet markets for UUNet, said […]

The Internet Industry Association, the primary representative body for Australian Internet service providers, has released version 5 of its Code of Conduct. The Code has been in almost constant redevelopment over the last four years, because it has never gained industry-wide support. IIA executive director Peter Coroneos claimed it was now the most comprehensive document […]

ecorp, the best-performed and largest Internet company in Australia, has slightly beaten its revenue forecasts and suffered a marginally better than expected loss. ecorp is the publicly-floated spinoff of media congolmerate Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd. ecorp’s core properties include 50 percent of ninemsn, the joint venture with Microsoft, as well as ticket agency Ticketek and […]

Australian-based Internet media company Spike Wireless has ended a particularly inauspicious initial public offering with only a two cent premium on its AUS$1.45 issue price. Spike’s listing on the Australian Stock Exchange coincided with a gloomy day on international financial markets as interest rate fears caused the ASX’s All Ordinaries Index to close half a […]

Telstra, Australia’s partly-privatised public telephony carrier, has been forced to give up control over the last remaining part of its monopoly over local telecommunications networks. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has made a long-awaited decision to “declare the local loop”. As part of a series of steps towards complete telecommunications deregulation, the decision […]

An Australian Internet casino is using its safe regulatory environment and a wad of cash to attract punters from across the globe. Lasseters Online Casino, based in the Australian town of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, will reportedly spend over AUS$500,000 (US$330,000) on Web-based advertising with US-based ad agency DoubleClick. Lasseters is the only […]

Australian telecommunications carrier Telstra is consolidating its formidable array of Internet assets in preparation for the long-awaited announcements of its partners in building its portal site. The company last week exercised its option to buy out minority owners of Pacific Access, which operates the most popular Web site in the country, the White Pages telephone […]