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2018 ACOMMS FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Sydney, 17 July 2018 – Communications Alliance is proud to announce the finalists for 2018 in the communications industry’s premier awards for excellence, the ACOMMS, which recognise exemplary achievement across 11 categories of endeavour.

The ACOMMS will be presented at a gala industry event in Sydney on 29th August 2018.

The short-listed nominees are illustrative of the industry’s transformation from the provision of traditional fixed and mobile communications to next-generation available-anywhere, advanced services and applications.

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, said: “the 2018 ACOMMs finalists forcefully reflect the prominent areas of innovation and technological advancement driving the sector, including:

  • the race to densify mobile networks and refine the technology to pave the way for 5G services;
  • the push to realise the disruptive dividend from the Internet of Things; and
  • increasingly sophisticated fixed access and cloud solutions.

New customer service initiatives in 2018 include innovative approaches to protecting schoolchildren from cyber-bullying, ground-breaking work to ensure broadband service quality and new ways for customers to connect to their supplier.

Community Contribution is always a hotly-contested ACOMMs field and in 2018 features programs dedicated to bringing technology-centred courses to high-school girls, a ‘rescue’ mission to restore internet connectivity to Christmas Island, STEM scholarships and community volunteering, as well as a program that has greatly boosted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment in the NBN rollout.  

“There are great stories behind the commitment to excellence on display from all finalists. I congratulate and wish them well for the ACOMM Awards night,” Mr Stanton said.

The 2018 ACOMM Awards finalists are:

Communications Ambassador

  • Announced on the night

Innovation (large)

  • NEXTDC - B2 Brisbane and M2 Melbourne data centres
  • Optus - Optus Loop
  • Telstra - 5G Innovation Centre
  • Vodafone Hutchison Australia - Demonstration of Frequency Duplex Division Massive Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output technology (FDD maMIMO)

Innovation (SME)

  • Cloud Plus - Cloud Solution Framework
  • Coevolve - Integrated SD-WAN Service (now deployed for client sites in 54 countries)
  • National Narrowband Network Co (NNNco) - N2N IoT Platform
  • Symbio Networks - Symbio Networks New Zealand

Satellite Provider of the Year

  • nbn - Sky Muster
  • Optus Satellite - Satellite Small Cell in a Container
  • Speedcast - Speedcast ATLAS

Commitment to Customer Service

  • Aussie Broadband - The “no bull” project
  • Mint Telecom - Commitment to Customer Service
  • Vodafone Hutchison Australia - Vodafone’s CARE approach
  • Telstra - Telstra Smart Modem

Services to Industry - Professional Services

  • Bird & Bird - Legal Services
  • Huawei Technologies Australia - Seeds for the Future
  • Maddocks - Cyber and data resilience - One of the top emerging risks for the 21st century

Best Marketing Initiative

  • Nokia - Nokia Small Cells Practice
  • The University of Melbourne - Talent for Every Future
  • Thinxtra - Thinxtra Small Council Program    
  • Vodafone Hutchison Australia - Vodafone 35 days prepaid expiry

Best Mobile Solution

  • Announced on the night

IoT Startup

  • Announced on the night

Community Contribution

  • Fulton Hogan - Supplier Diversity Partnership of the Year
  • Speedcast International - Speedcast Returns Internet Services to Christmas Island
  • Southern Phone - Community Champs Program
  • Vodafone Hutchison Australia - Code Next

Vendor Innovation                     

  • Cisco Systems Australia - Cisco Tetration Workload Protection
  • CyberHound - ClearView Behavioural Analytics
  • NetComm Wireless - Distribution Point Unit (DPU) and Network Connection Device (NCD)
  • Nokia - Nokia Small Cells Practice 
The ACOMM Awards are proudly presented by Communications Alliance.  The MNF Group is the 2018 Title Sponsor of the ACOMMS, with Mirait Technologies Australia as the Gold Sponsor, Vodafone Hutchison Australia as the Silver Sponsor and Cyient, Bird & Bird, and KPMG also sponsoring the event.

In an exciting development for 2018, Australia’s leading national newspaper, The Australian has joined Communications Alliance as the official Media Partner of the ACOMMS.

The ACOMMS recognise excellence among communications industry participants including individuals, service providers, content providers, carriers, technology partners, consultants and third-party suppliers.

The awards will be presented at the 12th Annual ACOMMS Dinner to be held on 29th August 2018 at the Hyatt Regency, Sydney.  The Minister for Communications, The Hon Mitch Fifield, will deliver the keynote address at the dinner.  This year Today Show TV star, Sylvia Jeffreys, will be the MC for the evening.

Registrations for this year’s event can be made at: http://www.acomms.com.au/register.php

ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE
Communications Alliance is the primary communications industry body in Australia. Its membership is drawn from a wide cross-section of the communications industry, including carriers, carriage and internet service providers, content providers, platform providers, equipment vendors, IT companies, consultants and business groups.

Its vision is to be the most influential association in Australian communications, co-operatively initiating programs that promote sustainable industry development, innovation and growth, while generating positive outcomes for customers and society. 

The prime mission of Communications Alliance is to create a co-operative stakeholder environment that allows the industry to take the lead on initiatives which grow the Australian communications industry, enhance the connectivity of all Australians and foster the highest standards of business behaviour.  For more details about Communications Alliance, see www.commsalliance.com.au.

Media information contact:
Sefiani
Aprille Lim  alim@sefiani.com.au
0413 317 788