Minister Fletcher directed the ACCC to conduct a public inquiry into access to regional towers and the feasibility of providing mobile roaming during natural disasters or other emergencies.
Limited details are available, but according to management, the tower access survey may include structures that are not currently towers used for telecommunications purposes. It is important to note that it does not seem to be required that these structures be already equipped with radiocommunication equipment.
The instruction provides that the relevant infrastructure could be provided by telecommunications and other infrastructure providers in regional, rural, remote and peri-urban areas of Australia, which can be used to provide mobile telecommunications services and other radiocommunication services. There is a note that “telecommunications and other infrastructure providers” includes specialized tower operators, neutral host operators, telecommunications operators, owners of other appropriate infrastructure, utilities and relief organizations. The Directorate also specifically requires the ACCC to consult with “providers of other infrastructure which could similarly be used to provide mobile telecommunications and other radiocommunication services. “Towers” are defined to include NBN towers, radio and television towers and other suitable towers or similar structures that could be used to improve mobile coverage.
Interestingly, the Minister did not ask for recommendations from the ACCC, he simply asked for a factual report.
We understand that Management has been motivated by a combination of the government’s long-standing policy objective of improving coverage in the regions, a focus on preserving communications networks during natural disasters and the divestiture by Telstra and Optus from partial ownership of their tower networks. This investigation comes on top of impending legislative reforms which mean that later this year a non-operator will be required to provide regulated access to its telecommunications transmission towers to operators, if there is an operator in the group of companies. of the non-operator.
The ACCC is required to begin its investigation by July 1, 2022 and provide a report within 12 months.
