LEOsats and Australia: Constellations of Disruption, Professor Jock Given, 21 October 2026

Date and Time: 21/10/2026

Professor Jock Given

TelSoc has pleasure in announcing our October lunchtime webinar, which will be held on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, from 12.30 p.m. AEDT. 

We are honoured to have Jock Given, Adjunct Professor of Media and Communications, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, as our speaker.  As many of you will know, Jock has been a supporter of and contributor to TelSoc and its predecessor organisation over the long haul, and an author and advisory board member of the Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite systems brings many advantages especially in relation to providing high speed broadband and usable voice communications to unserved and underserved regional, rural and remote areas where the cost of providing terrestrial alternatives is prohibitive. But there are many other issues and challenges associated with global-scale LEOsats, including matters going to national security and sovereignty. Low earth orbiting satellites are significantly disrupting the commercial and policy landscapes of Australian communications as well as elsewhere.

Jock’s talk will sketch the constellations, their impacts and their implications. It will cover plans announced and the progress so far in building, launching and attracting customers to Starlink, Amazon Leo and other systems; the effects on incumbent providers of satellite and terrestrial infrastructure and services; and the profound influences being felt throughout Australian policy and regulatory processes.

As with all TelSoc lunchtime events, Jock’s presentation will be followed by a Q&A session in which TelSoc members and industry colleagues will be able to raise questions and issues – and get some answers and perspective. Past experience suggests that these sessions are invariably very interesting and informative. The Q&A session with Jock will be well worth your time.

Registration Process:

  • Please fill in the “Register for this event” form on this page to RSVP for this event
  • You will receive a registration confirmation email with event details.
  • A reminder with a Zoom link to join the webinar will be emailed to you closer to time.
  • This event is free to members and non-members of TelSoc who have registered. If you are not already a member, please consider joining.  The objectives of TelSoc and benefits of joining are set out elsewhere on the website at https://telsoc.org/membership/.
  • If you are having any difficulty registering, please send your name and email contact to ********@****oc.org“>ji********@****oc.org and he will register you manually – provided he hears from you before 9 am on 21 October 2026.

Date and Time: 

21/10/2026 | 12:30 pm

Register for this event:

Event registration form

Presenter(s):

Jock Given, Adjunct Professor of Media and Communications, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne

Jock Given, Adjunct Professor of Media and Communications, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne

Jock Given researches and writes about media and communications business, policy, history and law. He is currently a chief investigator on an Australian Research Council-funded project, led by Professor Ramon Lobato, about the challenges facing broadcast television. Jock’s research has been published in journals including Telecommunications Policy, Business History and Information Economics and Policy. He was awarded a PhD in history from the University of Melbourne for a thesis about E.T. Fisk, managing director of AWA (1916-44) and EMI (1945-51). Before joining Swinburne University, Jock worked as Director of the Communications Law Centre, Policy Advisor at the Australian Film Commission, and Director of Legislation and Industry Economics at the federal Department of Transport and Communications. He writes reviews and essays for Inside Story and is a director of the Australian Society of Authors. He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board and contributor to TelSoc's Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy.
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