Industry Talking - major spectrum changes on the cards

It seems like only yesterday we started planning for 2014 and now we are three-quarters of the way through the year. The Australian Radio Communication Industry Association continues to work across many areas and the last few months have been a very busy period indeed.

On 31 July, the ARCIA Queensland team held a terrific seminar and industry event with over 90 people in attendance. It was very positive to see so many people discussing technology and industry matters with such enthusiasm. At the beginning of October Comms Connect returns to Melbourne, along with the premiere ARCIA event - the Annual Gala Dinner. As part of the Annual Gala Dinner, we recognise many people within our industry for professional services, engineering, projects and service to the community. As part of the judging panel that has the difficult task of selecting the most worthy winners, it never ceases to amaze me how much great work is going on out there across Australia. Promoting the LMR industry means celebrating those success stories, so make sure you publicise the winners in your own organisation and keep putting those nominations forward in future years.

On 13 November, Adelaide will be the location for the final ARCIA event for 2014 and I am sure the local hosts will run another great event. We are looking to run both training seminars and then a networking function together as we find that this is an excellent use of people’s time.

ARCIA continues to engage with ACMA and is actively responding to issues papers as they arise, including the recent Opportunity Cost Pricing paper. Under OCP, ACMA is using a spectrum pricing signal to promote the change of spectrum usage in the 400 MHz band to higher value uses. ARCIA’s principal response was that while we support open and transparent pricing signals, we remain concerned about some of the methodology used by ACMA to ascertain further fee increases in high-density areas. In addition, our members have indicated that the 400 MHz changes have had a far greater impact on spectrum changes to date rather than the first round of OCP fee increases. It is very pleasing, however, that ACMA is consulting with ARCIA on these matters. We welcome views from the industry on the impact of changes to spectrum fees.

The ACMA also invited ARCIA to participate in RADCOMMS 2014 in Sydney on 10-11 September. There is still a very long way to go with all the changes in the 400 MHz band as well as other LMR bands under review, and this is having a day-to-day impact on our industry. ARCIA was invited to put forward views on how innovation can help the management of spectrum to deliver better outcomes to industry stakeholders and end users.

Along with all the changes happening due to the 400 MHz band plan, there are many changes on the horizon with spectrum regulation. The Department of Communications has announced a spectrum review of policy frameworks and deregulation agendas to drive future innovation and productivity. This is potentially the most profound change to existing spectrum practices we have ever seen. ARCIA is consulting with the department; however, I urge you to seek out more information and understand the relevance to your portfolios. More information can be found at http://www.communications.gov.au/consultation_and_submissions/spectrum_review.

Hamish Duff

ARCIA President