DOCSLIB.ORG

Telstra Buys Stake in Southern Cross Cable

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Telstra Buys Stake in Southern Cross Cable An iTWire publication www.itwire.com Editor: Stan Beer Wednesday 02 October 2019 TELSTRA BUYS STAKE IN SOUTHERN CROSS CABLE CommsWire (ISSN 2202-4549) is published by iTWire Pty Ltd. 18 Lansdown St, Hampton, Vic, 3188 CommsWire/Telecommunications Editor: Stan Beer Staff writers: Peter Dinham, Alex Zaharov-Reutt, Sam Varghese. Columnist: John de Ridder Advertising: CEO and Editor in Chief, Andrew Matler: [email protected] • Tel: 0412 390 000 TELSTRA TO BUY STAKE IN SOUTHERN CROSS CABLE NETWORK Telstra has put pen to paper with the signing of a conditional agreement to take up a 25% equity interest in the US$300 million trans-Pacific Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN). Telstra’s signing of the conditional agreement follows its announcement in December last year of its inking of a terms of purchase agreement and intention to take up a 25% equity stake, joining existing shareholders - Spark New Zealand, Singtel and Verizon Business - in the cable company. Telstra Enterprise Group Executive, Michael Ebeid, said Telstra’s investment in the NEXT cable will deliver benefits to all its customers – from enterprise to wholesale and consumer. “With 80 per cent of all the internet traffic to Australia coming from the US, a high speed, low latency direct route to North America is a very important investment for our business and our customers,” Ebeid said. "Southern Cross builds on our existing footprint across Asia Pacific where we carry 30 per cent of the region’s active capacity. We are now even better placed to meet our customers' future data requirements right across Asia Pacific.” SCCN announced on Tuesday that conditional agreements have been executed and regulatory approvals have been obtained to enable construction of the subsea cable to soon begin. “The shareholders have agreed to commit the necessary equity funding to enable Southern Cross NEXT to proceed with additional funding raised from debt and SCCN cash reserves,” the SCCN statement said. “Although the transaction is still subject to some conditions, these are procedural in nature and are expected to be satisfied within the next few days.” Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has also been granted CIF to build the new high capacity express route which, once complete, will be the lowest latency path from Australia and New Zealand to the United States, based on its design and route. Wednesday 02 October 2019 No: 191002 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 2 Southern Cross NEXT will provide data connectivity between Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles and is scheduled for completion by January 2022. The new route will also provide critical international cable connectivity to the Pacific Islands of Fiji, Tokelau and Kiribati. The new 13,483 kilometre cable system has been developed as an extension of the existing Southern Cross two cable eco-system, and will allow customers to leverage Southern Cross’ extensive point-of-presence network and access infrastructure already in place. It will also allow Southern Cross NEXT customers to flexibly assign new and existing capacity across the three routes across the Pacific, connecting Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the United States, maximising diversity and resiliency. Southern Cross President and CEO Laurie Miller said: “The achievement of CIF is the result of a massive amount of effort by Southern Cross and the Sponsor teams over many months on the project. “The addition of the new Southern Cross NEXT route to the existing platform will provide existing and future customers with further resiliency and connectivity options between Australia, New Zealand and the United States,” Miller said. “We are delighted to have successfully achieved this key milestone, and all focus will now turn to the timely implementation of the new system, and the continued development of product enhancements to meet our customers growing and changing requirements.” “With significant work already completed including pre-sales, marine survey, landing arrangements, Pacific Island agreements, detail design and the cable RFT, the Southern Cross NEXT project is well positioned to meet its target completion date of January 2022.” Spark Chief Financial Officer David Chalmers welcomed Telstra as a shareholder in Southern Cross: “The Southern Cross network provides critical connectivity between New Zealand and Australia, the Pacific Islands, and the USA. Southern Cross NEXT will ensure this network Cross can continue to provide that connectivity for the region, and meet our customers’ increasing data demands, for decades to come.” And Singtel Vice President, Carrier Services, Group Enterprise Mr Ooi Seng Keat said: “Together with the newly completed INDIGO submarine cable system, the enhanced Southern Cross cable ecosystem will be a new data superhighway connecting Southeast Asia to the United States, providing greater network diversity. “The new cable system will enable Singtel and Optus to accelerate the roll-out of next- generation technologies that rely on low latency and high-bandwidth connectivity, reinforcing our position as one of the leading providers of international data services in the region.” Peter Dinham Wednesday 02 October 2019 No: 191002 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 3 REALME TO ENTER AUSTRALIAN SMARTPHONE MARKET THIS MONTH The already over-crowded Australian smartphone market will see yet another entrant this month when the Chinese brand realme launches four devices at a function in Sydney. A statement from the company, which was formed in 2018 by former OPPO vice-president Sky Li, claimed the brand already had more than 10 million users worldwide in 18 markets. Prices for the four devices will range from $200 to $500, and they will be sold online through JB HiFI, The Good Guys, Bing Lee and other unnamed outlets. Though it split off from OPPO, the company is still backed by its parent, with a shared production line, supply chain and ColorOS, a modified version of Android. OPPO is one of the three brands sold by BBK Electronics, with the being vivo and OnePlus. realme said the phones would also be sold on eBay, Amazon, Kogan, Catch and Mobilciti and on its own website. The company also has plans to enter the consumer finance market in Australia in collaboration with Make It Mine. realme Australia managing director Andy Yang (left) said: "realme is a young and fearless brand and our aim is to enable our fans to experience premium functionality, technology and style at a reasonable price. “Young people don’t need to spend a fortune to access high- quality phones with larger battery life and storage, rapid charging and superior camera technology. “Our customers are young and brave and we’re excited to share our innovations with Australian consumers. “As a disruptive smartphone brand, realme has won more than 10 million fans in just 15 months, a record in the smartphone industry. “Our Dare to Leap spirit drives us to innovate and challenge the status quo, which is what we are doing globally and aim to continue in Australia.” realme is already available in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and Russia, apart from China and Taiwan. Sam Varghese Wednesday 02 October 2019 No: 191002 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 4 ERICSSON SELECTED BY KDDI TO DEPLOY JAPAN 5G NETWORK Ericsson has been selected by communications service provider KDDI as the primary 5G vendor for next-generation network deployment in Japan. Under the agreement, Ericsson will supply KDDI with Radio Access Network equipment, including products and solutions from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio. Ericsson says the deployments will allow KDDI to maximise its spectrum assets and enable the service provider to roll out commercial 5G services in several parts of Japan on their sub-6GHz and 28GHz bands for 5G New Radio (NR). KDDI’s selection of Ericsson as a 5G vendor follows nearly four years of close collaboration on 5G between the companies, Ericsson said in a statement released on Monday. Chris Houghton, Senior Vice President, Head of Market Area North East Asia, Ericsson, says: “Having established our important partnership with KDDI in 2013, we have now expanded our collaboration efforts”. “We are excited about our involvement in KDDI’s 5G network buildout, which will provide a sound basis for our future collaboration as well as allowing our partner to offer users a whole new generation of mobile services.” Japan’s telecom regulation body, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, allocated spectrum to communication service providers KDDI, SoftBank, NTT DOCOMO, and Rakuten in April this year in preparation for the 2020 launch of 5G services. Ericsson says the government ministry expressed its hope that the telecom industry would build 5G infrastructure on a broad scale, extending well beyond major cities into rural areas KDDI reportedly aims to achieve 93.2% coverage of the 5G specified base station areas in Japan by the end of March 2025. KDDI and Ericsson say they have carried out a large number of joint tests across a wide range of 5G use cases on the 4.5GHz and 28GHz frequency bands, including the interworking between 5G and LTE. The two companies have been collaborating on 5G since November 25, 2015, when they announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to advance the evolution of the latest mobile technology. Peter Dinham Wednesday 02 October 2019 No: 191002 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 5 ANOTHER BLACKSPOT GONE AS FIREFLY GETS IMPROVED COVERAGE The rural community of Firefly on the NSW mid north coast now has improved mobile phone coverage with the switching on of a new tower co-funded by Optus and the Federal Government as part of the rollout of the Mobile Black Spot Program. Optus says coverage from the site, which is co-located on an existing tower along Bunyah Road in Firefly is now enabling more than 190 homes to connect to reliable mobile reception, providing them with the ability to make and receive calls, text and browse the internet.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • FY21 Results Overview
    Annual Report 2021 01 Chorus Board and management overview 14 Management commentary 24 Financial statements 60 Governance and disclosures 92 Glossary FY21 results overview Fixed line connections1 Broadband connections1 FY21 FY20 FY21 FY20 1,340,000 1,415,000 1,180,000 1,206,000 Fibre connections1 Net profit after tax FY21 FY20 FY21 FY20 871,000 751,000 $47m $52m EBITDA2 Customer satisfaction Installation Intact FY21 FY20 FY21 FY21 $649m $648m 8.2 out of 10 7.5 out of 10 (target 8.0) (target 7.5) Dividend Employee engagement score3 FY21 FY20 FY21 FY20 25cps 24cps 8.5 out of 103 8.5 This report is dated 23 August 2021 and is signed on behalf of the Board of Chorus Limited. Patrick Strange Mark Cross Chair Chair Audit & Risk Management Committee 1 Excludes partly subsidised education connections provided as part of Chorus’ COVID-19 response. 2 Earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is a non-GAAP profit measure. We monitor this as a key performance indicator and we believe it assists investors in assessing the performance of the core operations of our business. 3 Based on the average response to four key engagement questions. Dear investors Our focus in FY21 was to help consumers especially important because fixed wireless services don’t capitalise on the gigabit head start our fibre provide the same level of service as fibre - or even VDSL in network has given New Zealand. We knocked most cases – and these service limitations often aren’t made clear to the customer. on about a quarter of a million doors and supported our 100 or so retailers to connect As expected, other fibre companies continued to win copper customers in those areas where they have overbuilt our another 120,000 consumers to fibre.
    [Show full text]
  • Bringing the Future Faster
    6mm hinge Bringing the future faster. Annual Report 2019 WorldReginfo - 7329578e-d26a-4187-bd38-e4ce747199c1 Bringing the future faster Spark New Zealand Annual Report 2019 Bringing the future faster Contents Build customer intimacy We need to understand BRINGING THE FUTURE FASTER and anticipate the needs of New Zealanders, and Spark performance snapshot 4 technology enables us Chair and CEO review 6 to apply these insights Our purpose and strategy 10 to every interaction, Our performance 12 helping us serve our Our customers 14 customers better. Our products and technology 18 Read more pages 7 and 14. Our people 20 Our environmental impact 22 Our community involvement 24 Our Board 26 Our Leadership Squad 30 Our governance and risk management 32 Our suppliers 33 Leadership and Board remuneration 34 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Financial statements 38 Notes to the financial statements 44 Independent auditor’s report 90 OTHER INFORMATION Corporate governance disclosures 95 Managing risk framework roles and 106 responsibilities Materiality assessment 107 Stakeholder engagement 108 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) content 109 index Glossary 112 Contact details 113 This report is dated 21 August 2019 and is signed on behalf of the Board of Spark New Zealand Limited by Justine Smyth, Chair and Charles Sitch, Chair, Audit and Risk Management Committee. Justine Smyth Key Dates Annual Meeting 7 November 2019 Chair FY20 half-year results announcement 19 February 2020 FY20 year-end results announcement 26 August 2020 Charles Sitch Chair Audit and Risk Management Committee WorldReginfo - 7329578e-d26a-4187-bd38-e4ce747199c1 Create New Zealand’s premier sports streaming business Spark Sport is revolutionising how New Zealanders watch their favourite sports events.
    [Show full text]
  • 2021–24 Media Rights Sales
    Media rights sales: 2021-24 UEFA Europa League™/ UEFA Europa Conference League™ Last Update: 24 August 2021 The media content rights sales process for the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League (seasons 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24) will be conducted on a market-by-market basis with such media rights being offered on a platform neutral basis and in accordance with the principles established by the European Commission. The sales process will usually be effected initially by means of an ‘Invitation to Submit Offer’ (ISO) process under which qualified media content distributors will be invited to submit offers before the submission deadline (as indicated in the Schedule A below) for the media rights in their respective territories. Schedule B lists the relevant territories for which media rights agreements have been signed (including details of the respective partners). The sales process will be administered on behalf of UEFA by TEAM Marketing, UEFA’s exclusive marketing agency for the exploitation of certain media and commercial rights relating to its club competitions. All enquiries in respect of the acquisition of such rights should therefore be directed to TEAM Marketing at the following e-mail address: [email protected]. Further communications and updates shall be provided as and when UEFA commences the media content rights sales process in respect of any other territories. Schedule A: ISO list The list of dates (subject to changes at UEFA’s discretion) on which an ISO has been or will be issued is, by territory, as follows:
    [Show full text]
  • New Zealand Guide
    WridgWays Global Guide to Living in New Zealand Image source: Photo by Laura Smetsers on Unsplash Disclaimer: Though WridgWays strives to maintain the materials in this document, keeping them as accurate and current as possible, the information is collected for reference purpose. WridgWays assumes no liability for any inaccurate or incomplete information, nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Table of Contents 1. General Information 2 2. Culture, Lifestyle and Language 4 3. Visa and Migration 7 4. Housing 8 5. Banking Services 11 6. Medical Services 12 7. Schooling 16 8. Utilities 18 9. Telecommunications 19 10. Public Transport 20 11. Driving 23 12. Moving your Pet 27 13. Household Goods Shipment and Customs Information 28 14. Shopping 29 1 1. General Information Geographic Location Main Locations New Zealand or Aotearoa, the Māori name, is an island country in Almost three-quarters of the population live on the North Island of the southwestern Pacific Ocean, with a total land area spanning New Zealand. Of this, one-third of the population live in the largest city, 268,021 km2. It consists of two main landmasses, the North Island Auckland. (Te Ika-a-Mui) and the South Island (Te Waipounamu), and Auckland is the commercial heart and international hub of New approximately 600 smaller islands. Aotearoa’s literal translation Zealand. It is considered one of the world's most liveable cities, and is “land of the long white cloud.” The country is long and narrow, offers a culturally diverse and cosmopolitan lifestyle. 1,600 kilometres north to south, and 400 kilometres at its widest point.
    [Show full text]
  • Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leaders
    2018 Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leaders In 2016, Deloitte released Australia’s first list of 50 LGBTI Executives, with the purpose of providing visible business role models to LGBTI Australians of all ages. This year, Deloitte is collaborating with Google to celebrate our Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leaders of 2018. Together, we are extremely proud to be recognising the many role models in business, beyond traditional large corporate organisations. We have taken an inclusive approach to include remarkable leaders from the public sector, government and small to medium-sized businesses alongside those in traditional corporate roles. For more on our Outstanding 50 LGBTI leaders of 2018 please visit www.deloitte.com/au/out50 2018 #out50 03 04 Message from Cindy Hook 08 Feyi Akindoyeni 46 Virginia Lovett 11 Dean Allright 49 Denise Lucero 06 Message from Jason Pellegrino 14 Andrew Barr MLA 50 Graeme Mason 15 Simone Bartley 51 Matthew McCarron 08 Profiles and interviews 16 Mark Baxter 52 Jennifer Morris 20 Nicole Brennan 53 Jude Munro AO 84 Our alumni 21 Councillor Tony Briffa JP 54 Rachel Nicolson 24 David Brine 55 Steve Odell 89 Diversity and inclusion 25 John Caldwell 56 Lisa Paul AO PSM 27 Magali De Castro 57 Luke Pellegrini 30 Emma Dunch 61 Neil Pharaoh 31 Cathy Eccles 62 Janet Rice 32 Luci Ellis 63 Anthony Schembri 33 Tiziano Galipo 64 Tracy Smart 34 Mark Gay 65 Dean Smith 35 Alasdair Godfrey 66 Jarther Taylor 36 Dr Cassandra Goldie 67 Michael Tennant 37 Matthew Groskorth 68 Amy Tildesley 39 Manda Hatter 69 Sam Turner 40 Jane Hill 74 Tea Uglow 41 Dawn Hough 75 Louis Vega 42 Steve Jacques 76 Tess Walsh 43 Leigh Johns OAM 79 Benjamin Wash 44 David Jones 80 Lisa Watts Contents 45 Jason Laufer 83 Penny Wong 04 2018 #out50 2018 #out50 05 Message from Cindy Hook, Chief involvement in bringing this next list of Executive Officer, Deloitte Australia: One of dynamic LGBTI Leaders into the public eye.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report
    ANNUAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS MONITORING REPORT 2014 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 INTRODUCTION 5 Purpose of this report 6 Data sources 6 MARKET OVERVIEW 7 700MHz spectrum auction completed 7 Orcon sold again 7 Telecom becomes Spark 7 Wholesale copper pricing reduced but not finalised 8 Fibre becoming more common 8 New online streaming services keep arriving 8 2degrees buys Snap 8 UFB continues to underpin high level of telecommunications investment 9 Broadband connections of all types continue to grow 10 Calling volumes continue opposing trends 11 Total revenue declines again 12 RETAIL FIXED-LINE MARKET 13 Market overview 13 Fall in calling largely continues 15 All but broadband revenues continue to fall 16 Spark’s retail and wholesale voice share continues to decline 17 Further consolidation in broadband market 18 Broadband subscribers using more data 19 Mixed results in broadband price benchmarking 21 Broadband prices continued to trend down in 2014 23 Significant rise in average broadband speed 24 RETAIL MOBILE MARKET 25 Market overview 25 Spark claws back market share while 2degrees marks time 26 Mobile voice minutes per connection continue to climb 28 Off-net calling shows strongest growth 29 Texting continues to slide from peak 29 Mobile data consumption nearly doubles again 30 New Zealand below average price for all levels of mobile phone usage 30 Mobile prices have fallen dramatically in recent years 31 Mobile broadband still expensive 32 THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONSUMER 34 THE 2014 YEAR IN REVIEW 47 LIST OF DEFINED TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 54 2 Commerce Commission Annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report 2014 Executive Summary This is the Commerce Commission’s eighth annual telecommunications market monitoring report.
    [Show full text]
  • Utility Report Card Security Rating Price Yield 12-Mo
    Conrad’s Utility Investor Utility Report Card Security Rating Price Yield 12-Mo. 3-Mo. DVD / Payout Quality Ex-DVD DVD 3-Year DVD Debt/ Capital Industry (Exchange: Ticker) Total Total Share Ratio Grade Date Payment Growth Return Return (CAD) Date AES Corp Buy<28 24.64 2.44 43.81 -0.66 0.15 39.1 B 7/30/2021 8/16/2021 5.3 77.2 Utility, Renewable (NYSE: AES) Energy Shares of leading renewable energy generator and developer are low priced at 14.3 times expected next 12 months earnings with Moody's upgrade to investment grade credit rating nearing. Alto Maipo hydro project in Chile is on track for full operations in December, company has built 100% of tunnels and starts negotiations for permanent financing, remaining financial share of project is $46 mil, has invested $972 mil. Asset encumbered by lower spot prices for output due to faster than expected Chilean renewables build, output limited by drought in country near term but financial risk to parent now appears low. Company plans 72 megawatt of new solar capacity in Michigan for in service by mid-2022. Earnings guidance mid-point remains $1.54 per share in 2021, 7-9% annual profit growth rate target through 2025. Quality Grade B (No Change). AGL Energy Buy<7 4.9 6.33 -50.46 -23.89 0.25 100 C 8/24/2021 10/6/2021 -6.6 36.6 Int'l Electricity (OTC: AGLXY, ASX: AGL) See August 13 Alert "AGL Bottoming, Algonquin a Buy." FY2021 (end June 30) are in line with management guidance, FY2022 net profit after tax on which dividends are set is expected to be 25-30% lower on weak wholesale power market.
    [Show full text]
  • Security Threats and Trends
    Foreword As our lives become more and more connected, cyber making responsibilities for cyber security, highlights the security has emerged as a top-of-mind issue for business emerging technologies that will help detect and counter the leaders and governments right across the globe. impact of current and new security threats in the year ahead. With cybercrime increasing, organisations of all kinds Encouragingly, this year’s report shows the majority of are regularly experiencing breaches that interrupt organisations are working on being better prepared for when, operations, compromise customer privacy and in the not if, an attack occurs, but being able to detect and respond very worst cases irretrievably damage reputations or to incidents in a timely manner is still the number one steal your intellectual property. challenge for security professionals for 2019. The introduction of new compliance regulations and The report also found that a majority of respondents in growing public interest in data privacy, means C-level countries with data privacy legislation have been fined for participation in cyber security management is now data breaches indicating companies still have a way to go to critical for all businesses. understand and comply with local legislation. Organisations must better understand the dynamic What is clear is that security has moved far beyond the and changing world of cyber security, to help reduce the maintenance of firewalls and is now a whole-of-business occurance and impact of cyber-attacks. concern for C-level executives and boards. The Telstra Security Report 2019 reviews the current We hope this report is a useful tool to help you better think security landscape and how security professionals are through your organisation’s cyber security risk and make managing risks around the world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Australian Workplace Equality Index (Awei) 33
    CONTENTS CELEBRATING10 YEARS OF PRIDE IN DIVERSITY 1 President of ACON Dr. Justin Koonin, CEO Nic Parkhill 2 Director Dawn Hough 4 Pride Inclusion Programs Team 2020 6 Our Patrons, Past & Present 11 THE BIRTH OF A PROGRAM 19 Program Beginnings 20 THE AUSTRALIAN WORKPLACE EQUALITY INDEX (AWEI) 33 Launch of the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) 34 10 years of AWEI Results & Recognition 42 Small Employer Gold Achievements 53 10 Years of Achievement Awards 54 PRIDE IN DIVERSITY IN ACTION 67 10 Years of Key Initiatives 75 THE BIRTH OF TWO NEW PRIDE INCLUSION PROGRAMS 85 Pride In Sport 86 Pride In Health + Wellbeing 89 RESPONDING TO COVID-19 91 LOOKING AHEAD: NEXT 5 YEARS FOR PRIDE IN DIVERSITY 93 A THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS 97 In our work with Pride in Diversity in Australia we should, without delay, be considering how we can help Australian and other multinational companies to take the lead in neighbouring regions. To spread the word that homophobia and transphobia are bad for business and bad for human rights. Increasingly, we must look beyond Australia. We should insist on equality in our own country. But we should also reach out to promote and support equality and good example beyond our borders. Pride in Diversity’s message must reach the four corners of the planet. THE HON. MICHAEL KIRBY AC CMG CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF PRIDE IN DIVERSITY While many will remember 2020 ACON’S as a year of upheaval and change, we hope to remember it also as a PRESIDENT time to honour Pride in Diversity’s AND CEO extraordinary achievements over the past ten years.
    [Show full text]
  • SPARK NEW ZEALAND Spark Increases Speed to Market and Reduces Costs with CSG
    CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY SPARK NEW ZEALAND Spark increases speed to market and reduces costs with CSG CLIENT OVERVIEW A HISTORY OF INNOVATION Spark is New Zealand’s largest telecommunications Before deploying CSG Singleview, Spark had to and digital services company. Spark provides rearchitect its billing function whenever it wanted to mobile, broadband and digital services to millions offer a new product. Turning to CSG for a convergent of New Zealanders and thousands of New Zealand charging and billing system, Singleview allowed Spark businesses. Spark’s end-to-end digital services to quickly offer new products, configuring offers without offerings include cloud transformation, managed needing new code. services, security, data, automation, analytics, IoT Spark uses Singleview to manage different products, and much more. such as supporting prepaid and postpaid plans from EXECUTIVE SUMMARY one solution. This convergent solution allowed Spark to respond to the demands of the fast-maturing New In the last several years, Spark has undergone Zealand mobile market. With Singleview, complex intense transformation. The company rebranded and scenarios are simplified, like sharing data across changed its name, reengineered its internal IT mobile devices in an account or free calling circles for systems, restructured into an Agile organization, otherwise unrelated customers. This allows Spark to tap and reinforced its commitment to lead with into lucrative market segments. wireless services. “Whether you use prepaid or postpaid plans is just a 2013 saw Spark embark on a three-year journey payment choice,” says Paul Adamson, Domain Chapter to rebuild its internal IT systems, with the goals of Lead for Billing. “You should be able to get the same improving time to market and reducing opex.
    [Show full text]
  • Official Aus-China Media Roundup 15 December
    relationship Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship Media Roundup Issue 102 (15/12/18 – 20/12/18) 1. Ties with China testify to Australia’s deft handling of foreign policy 15/12/18 John Howard The Australian Australia should never sell short its foreign policy achievements. I reflected on this during the high-level dialogue I attended in Beijing last week. I had been invited by former foreign minister Julie Bishop to lead Australia’s delegation. High-level dialogues, which involve a mixture of diplomats, former ministers, business figures and cultural leaders, and are conducted under Chatham House rules, facilitate much more direct discussion than is sometimes possible in the more formal exchanges between government officials. At last week’s dialogue our team included former Labor foreign minister Stephen Smith, whose contributions reinforced to our Chinese hosts the essentially bipartisan character and continuity of Sino-Australian relations, and Jennifer Westacott of the Business Council of Australia. Journalist Rowan Callick and author Richard McGregor, who have extensive background knowledge of China, also attended. The participation of National Museum of Australia director Mathew Trinca emphasised cultural links. Read more (Paywall): https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/ties-with- china-testify-to-australias-deft-handling-of-foreign-policy/news- story/9d3dadd84c6ab64bc0ff6d813739a126 2. How the Huawei princess at the heart of the US-China trade war affects Australia 15/12/18 Jennifer Duke & David Wroe The Sydney Morning Herald The extraordinary arrest of Chinese tech heiress in Canada, at the request of the United States, on accusations of breaching sanctions against Iran could seem a world away from Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Market and Economic Review
    Milford KiwiSaver Plan Monthly Review December 2019 Market and Economic Review November saw investors embrace optimism for the first time this year as we inch closer to a trade deal and evidence builds of an emerging global growth rebound. Fund returns were strong this month, reflecting sharply higher share markets both locally and overseas. For most of the year, investors have been concerned about the deteriorating global economic outlook, driven by the impact of the US-China trade war on global trade and the business sector. Recently there has been a pause in the escalation of tariffs and there is hope that a trade deal will be signed before Christmas, paving the way for improvements in business sentiment. This development has enticed investors off the sidelines and money has been put to work in shares across the globe, boosting prices. When markets experience inflows it tends to be the larger stocks that benefit, and this was true in Australia and NZ this month with large cap stocks outperforming in both regions. However, November also saw plenty of opportunity for stock selection. In NZ, positive trading updates from the likes of a2 Milk and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare saw these stocks up 19.4% and 15.7% respectively in the month. Elsewhere, a long-term shareholder in EBOS Group decided to sell a large stake at a discount offering investors a rare chance to buy the shares in good volume. In Australia, the banks continue to strengthen their balance sheets and this time it was Westpac’s turn to ask investors for A$2bn of more capital.
    [Show full text]