Corporate Blogging at Telstra Exchange
One of the great things about writing your own blog is the freedom. You get to choose the style, the format and the frequency of posting. You get to set the rules of the blog, and so long as your employer is supportive of private blogging, there’s scope for discussing pretty much any topic – even those that may be work related.
But as a writer, there’s a different challenge in writing for a specific audience or in a particular format. This is part of the reason I’ve become an official blogger at Telstra Exchange (TEX). Writing for TEX means pushing ones self to write to someone else’s requirements.
For example, whilst conciseness is something I strive for , my more analytical posts tend to be around a thousand words, or even longer. By contrast, the recommended word count for TEX is about half that. Sticking to the suggested limits requires careful selection of both the blog topic and the key points to be covered. It’s a challenge, but being able to work within the guidelines and still produce a post I’m happy with is quite rewarding.
The other reason for blogging at TEX is exposure. My first post at TEX was a review of Kindle for Android, and in one afternoon it’s generated more comments, likes and shares than anything posted on MinimalState. TEX looks like being a good platform for building a personal blogging brand, which can hopefully be leveraged to boost the profile of MinimalState.
So whilst there will still be new and original posts appearing here at MinimalSate, I’ll also be directing readers to posts on TEX. And if you have any suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered here or at TEX, please let me know.
Losing the filter without losing face
This week the Australian Labor Party installed Julia Gillard as its new leader, making her the first female Prime Minister of Australia. This change in leadership provides the government with an opportunity to change its approach to certain policy issues without losing (quite so much) face.
The new PM has wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to change the governments approach to negotiating with the mining industry over the resource super profit tax (RSPT). The question now is – what other policy areas could benefit from an opportune change of tack?
Within the telecoms and technology arena, there have been two hot topics for the ALP led government since it came to power – the National Broadband Network (NBN) and internet censorship.
This week, an in principle agreement was finally reached with Telstra in regards to the company’s involvement with the NBN. Given the size of the agreement ($11bn) and the benefits of the deal to NBN Co (access to Telstra’s infrastructure and customers), the government is unlikely to substantially change things too much in this arena. With an election expected in the next few months, the government needs the NBN to be an election promise showing tangible progress – not just another pipe dream causing conflicts like the RSPT.
On the other hand – internet censorship continues to be a problem area for the government. Like the NBN, progress has been slow. So slow there’s speculation that the enabling legislation may be delayed until after the election. But like the NBN, internet censorship was an election promise and the escalating rhetoric from Senator Conroy (the responsible minister) had put the government in a position where it risked losing face if it yielded to criticism of the proposal.
But Julia Gillard’s ascension to the role of PM offers an opportunity for the government to rethink this policy. If Senator Conroy where moved on as part of a Cabinet reshuffle, a new Communications Minister could potentially seek alternate methods of delivering the spirit of the policy – without imposing mandatory internet censorship on all Australians.
The next few weeks look like being a very interesting period indeed.
Tags: censorship, Julia Gillard, NBN, NBN Co, Stephen Conroy, Telstra
Telstra’s first Android is mostly Desirable
Just over a year ago, Optus brought the first Android phone to Australia in the form of the HTC Dream. Now Telstra has joined the Android ranks with the launch of the HTC Desire. This recent addition to HTC’s Android lineup is an impressive device and after two weeks of use, the verdict is “mostly desirable”.
So what makes this phone so desirable? And why the qualification of “mostly”?
First impressions: Motorola DEXT & Backflip
The Android invasion of Australia is set to ramp up with this month with new handsets being launched by both Telstra and Optus. Telstra will be launching the HTC Desire on April 27th, followed by the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 on May 4th. Optus meanwhile, has already hit the market with the Motorola DEXT and Motorola Backflip. After having a quick hands on with the DEXT and Backflip at a local Optus store, here’s my initial thoughts on the features that stood out for me.
Tags: Backflip, Desire, DEXT, Facebook, Google, Motoblur, Motorola, Optus, Sony Ericsson, Telstra, Xperia X10
What next for former BigPond boss?
Interesting news from the Australian telecoms sector this weekend, with ‘The Australian’ reporting that former BigPond and Telstra Media boss Justin Milne, is quitting Telstra. There’s already plenty of speculation over what this all means for Telstra, but the other interesting question which has received little attention so far is what is Mr Milne going to be doing post Telstra?
Tags: BigPond, broadband, Doug Campbell, Fetch TV, Hybrid Television Services, Justin Milne, media-comms, NBN Co, Seven, Telstra, TiVO, Unwired, Vivid Wireless
Time for TIO Complaint Rankings
I’d like to make a complaint. It’s about the way the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsmen (TIO) reports its complaint statistics.
Around October each year, the TIO publishes it’s annual report that almost invariably reports a rise in complaints. For instance in the latest reporting year (2009) we’re informed “the highest increase in complaints was among mobile phone users (79% rise), followed by internet (57%), landline (40%) and mobile premium services (13%).” (TIO 23/10/2009).
The report also provides a detailed breakdown of complaint data by service provider. This tends to be popular with the IT media, who use it produce headlines such as “Telstra records highest telco complaints“.
My concern is that by using complaint volumes as it’s key metric, the TIO may be creating inaccurate perceptions about the performance of particular product categories or service providers. This in turn impacts public policy and regulatory behaviour(1), as well consumer choice.
Tags: complaints, customer satisfaction, Dodo, telco, Telstra, TIO
