Recognising ARCIA's 2023 Small Business Award winner

In 2023, the Australian Radio Communications Industry Association (ARCIA) shook up its annual Industry Excellence Awards with the addition of the Small Business Award, launched to recognise smaller companies that not only survive but thrive. With nominations for this year’s awards closing on 20 September, Critical Comms checked in with the inaugural Small Business Award winner, Spectrum Engineering, to see how the company came to receive this prestigious honour.

Established as a sole trader in 1986 and incorporated in 1988, Spectrum Engineering is a Canberra-based firm providing engineering consultancy services to major corporate and government clients in the telecommunications, broadcasting and radiocommunications industries. Operating in the niche market of radio frequency management, its core business is assisting clients with the licensing of their radiocommunications systems via the ACMA accreditation system.

Spectrum Engineering really made its mark when, in 1990, the company submitted a proposal to a parliamentary inquiry into the management of the radiofrequency spectrum, suggesting that frequency assignment work that was being done exclusively by government be opened to private practitioners. The result was the ACMA accreditation process, which meant that licences that once took several weeks, if not months, to issue could now be acquired typically within a few days. Now almost all apparatus licensing is done by Accredited Persons, with one of Spectrum Engineering’s own staff becoming the first person to be granted accreditation by the (then) Spectrum Management Agency in 1996.

Spectrum Engineering has gone from strength to strength ever since, with the company’s Executive Manager, Andrew May, saying its success as a small business is largely due to its people.

“We provide a working environment that encourages commitment and acknowledges contributions from everybody,” May said. “We operate a flat organisational structure within which all employees feel confident to contribute ideas.

“The result of our ‘people first’ policy is that we have a strong staff retention record upon which we are able to build enduring expertise,” May continued. He added that Spectrum Engineering’s singular focus on radio frequency licensing enables it to maintain this expertise, shared in the form of its high-quality customer service.

The company also demonstrates its expertise regularly at industry conferences, including Comms Connect, where it often provides spectrum updates from ACMA. May explained that ACMA’s ever-changing regulatory environment requires Spectrum Engineering to pay constant attention to new developments and to regularly upgrade its frequency management software, which enables the company to assign frequencies strictly in accordance with ACMA’s RALIs.

“The software attends to the computation detail of the assignment task, thereby freeing the assigner to focus on the suitability of the result,” he said.

When asked what the Small Business Award means to his company, May said, “It is very satisfying to receive the recognition of your peers. It is a source of pride and encouragement to those working within the business, and it is public testament to the quality of the service that the business provides to its clients.”

In addition to the Small Business Award, ARCIA is also encouraging nominations for the Local Manufacturing Award, the Major Project Award, the Industry Innovation Award and Outstanding Industry Individual of the Year. All these awards, as well as two pre-selected awards, will be presented at the ARCIA Industry Gala Dinner, held on day one of Comms Connect Melbourne (16 October). To nominate for the awards, visit https://arcia.org.au/standard-page/industry-excellence-awards/.