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Telstra, the beleaguered Australian telecommunicatiions giant that just got hit with an extra $400 million y2k bill, is worried about public utility service, including electricity. If they're worried, I'm worried.
The full story appeared in Australia's FINANCIAL REVIEW (Oct. 14).
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Would-be Telstra shareholders were warned in the Public Offer Document, released two weeks ago, that there was no assurance that the three-year, $500 million program would be successful, or that the date change from 1999 to 2000 would not materially affect Telstra's operations and financial results.
The Public Offer Document stressed that Telstra's operations could also be affected by the ability of third parties to manage the effect of the year 2000 data change.
Part of the problem, Ms Weiss-Dolev said, related to differing definitions of year 2000 compliance.
"We need to get assurances from suppliers -- including specialised networking concerns and other more general suppliers such as electricity and water companies -- that they are taking the necessary steps to comply.
"One of the problems we have had is that people were using the same words but not necessarily referring to the same things."
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