Govt to adopt Spectrum Review recommendations

The federal government has announced its response to the Spectrum Review recommendations.

The federal government has announced its response to the Spectrum Review undertaken by the Department of Communications in conjunction with the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

In a joint statement from the Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister, Paul Fletcher, the federal government said it has considered and agreed to implement the recommendations of the Spectrum Review.

“Spectrum is a critical enabler of Australia’s current and future communications infrastructure. However, the legislative framework for managing spectrum in Australia has become outdated,” the statement said.

“Implementing the review’s recommendations will reduce the regulatory burden on spectrum users by making interactions with the framework, including allocation processes, simpler and faster.

“The framework will be simpler, more efficient, flexible and sustainable to support new and innovative technologies and services while providing certainty of spectrum access rights for users.”

The government said it will implement the three main recommendations of the review:

1. Replace the current legislative arrangements with new legislation that removes prescriptive process and streamlines licensing, for a simpler and more flexible framework.
2. Better integrate the management of public sector and broadcasting spectrum to improve the consistency and integrity of the framework.
3. Review spectrum pricing to ensure consistent and transparent arrangements to support the efficient use of spectrum and secondary markets.

The government said it expects the new framework to commence from mid-2017.

Implementation of the Spectrum Review recommendations will be staged over a number of years, reflecting the scope and impacts of reform for spectrum users and the Commonwealth. Introducing the new spectrum framework will involve ongoing, close consultation to maintain certainty and support stakeholders during the transition.

The government said that the “guiding principle for the transition is that the rights of existing licence holders will not be diminished in the transition”, and that the new licensing system is intended to be progressively rolled out from mid-2017.

During the transition, existing licensees will be able to select the option which best suits their needs:

• retaining their current licensing arrangement until expiry; or
• where new arrangements become available earlier, transitioning to new licensing arrangements before the formal expiration of their current licences.

The government said that those seeking new licences will be issued licences under the old arrangements until the new system is in place and a licence type suitable for their proposed use is available.