Minister Fletcher has directed the ACCC to conduct a public inquiry into access to regional towers, and into the feasibility of providing mobile roaming during natural disasters or other emergencies.
Limited details are available, but based on the direction the inquiry into tower access could include structures that are not currently towers used for telecommunications purposes. Importantly, there does not appear to be a requirement that such structures already have radiocommunications equipment installed on them.
The direction contemplates that the relevant infrastructure could be provided by telecommunications and other infrastructure providers in regional, rural, remote and peri-urban areas within Australia, that can be used to supply mobile telecommunications and other radiocommunications services. There is a note that ‘telecommunications and other infrastructure providers’ includes specialist tower operators, neutral host operators, telecommunications carriers, owners of other suitable infrastructure, utilities and emergency service organisations. The Direction also specifically requires the ACCC to consult with ‘providers of other infrastructure that could similarly be used in supplying mobile telecommunications and other radiocommunications services. ‘Towers’ is defined to include NBN towers, radio and television broadcasting towers and other suitable towers or similar structures that could be used to improve mobile coverage.
Interestingly, the Minister has not requested recommendations from the ACCC, it has simply asked for a factual report.
We understand the Direction has been prompted by a combination of the Government’s longstanding policy objective of improving coverage in the regions, a focus on preserving communications networks during natural disasters, and the divestment by Telstra and Optus of part ownership in their tower networks. This inquiry comes on top of the impending legislative reforms that mean that later this year, a non-carrier will be required to provide regulated access to its telecommunications transmission towers to carriers, if there is a carrier in the non-carrier’s corporate group.
The ACCC is required to commence its inquiry by 1 July 2022 and provide a report within 12 months.
We’d be happy to talk to you about what this could mean for your business, and to help you prepare your input into the inquiry.
