Optus has secured $26.4m in government funding under the mobile black spot program, but an ANAO audit has criticised the program as inefficient and favouring Coalition electorates. [ + ]

The NSW Government has unveiled a wide-reaching Innovation Strategy aiming to foster innovation in government and the state's start-up ecosystem. [ + ]

A cooperative platform for the edge computing industry has been established in Beijing, China. [ + ]

The ACCC has provisionally denied a request from Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to collectively bargain over access to the iPhone's NFC payment functionality. [ + ]

CSIRO and Thermal Focus have reached an agreement for Australian solar heliostat technology to be marketed and installed in China. [ + ]

Accounting software provider Xero is using its nearly completed migration to AWS to implement new capabilities such as machine learning and the ability to scale up capacity on days of peak demand. [ + ]

A coalition of advocacy groups has joined forces to focus on improving communications services for consumers and businesses in rural areas. [ + ]

A more streamlined fibre installation process is being trialled by Spark and Chorus in New Zealand. [ + ]

A new data centre has been opened by Alibaba in Sydney as part of its efforts to expand global network coverage. [ + ]

A failed malware attack on a specific brand of routers, potentially linked with the Mirai IoT botnet, caused significant broadband outage for around 900,000 customers of Deutsche Telekom. [ + ]

Forcepoint Security has discovered a new attack campaign involving using compromised Microsoft OneDrive for Business user accounts to spread malware, and Australians are the number one target. [ + ]

After securing the first NABERS 4.5-star energy efficiency rating for an Australian data centre earlier this year, two more Metronode facilities have secured the rating. [ + ]

One in eight consumers would accept discounts and special offers from retailers in exchange for their passwords, the Centrify 2016 Online Shopping Survey has found. [ + ]

The 2017 conference program has been launched for CeBIT Australia, featuring a wide range of topics and expert speakers. [ + ]

Women who are trying to re-enter the workforce after a career break will be supported by SAP's new Back-to-Work initiative. [ + ]