Interview: Mark Loney, ACMA

There’s no doubt that efficient spectrum management is the number one priority for all branches of telecommunications, and especially so for the business- and mission-critical sectors.

The ACMA, as the spectrum regulator, is right in the thick of things when it comes to spectrum planning and compliance matters — when its time is not being wasted by hoax callers on air traffic control frequencies.

The ACMA will be present in force at Comms Connect Melbourne next week. Its representatives will conduct a workshop and give a speaker presentation.

The workshop — entitled ‘Keeping the spectrum clean: ACMA activities and compliance priorities’ — will take place at 9.30 am on the preconference day, Tuesday, 22 November.

It will be presented by Mark Loney – Executive Manager, Operations, Services and Technologies Branch; Chris Fosten – Manager, Compliance and Field Operations; Mark McGregor – Manager, Economics Advisory Section; and Mark Tell – Assistant Manager, Compliance and Field Operations.

Mark Loney will also give a presentation on ‘400 MHz implementation progress and outcomes of the 803–960 MHz review’ at 4.30 pm on Wednesday, 23 November.

We had a chance to catch up with Mark Loney this week to get some more information about the content of the workshop and his presentation.

The ACMA’s Mark Loney.

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At Comms Connect you’ll be speaking about reforms in the 400 MHz band. What is the status of these reforms?

The ACMA started a two-year review of arrangements in the 400 MHz band in 2008. Through research, analysis and extensive consultation, the ACMA identified that overall benefit to users of the band could be significantly increased through a number of reforms that were announced in 2010. The objectives of these reforms were to:

• Reduce congestion in the band. One reform to achieve this objective was to increase technical efficiency of the band. This was largely achieved by narrowbanding channels from 25 kHz to 12.5 kHz and 6.25 kHz (with associated transition arrangements to reduce the impact of transition to the end users). In addition to the cost benefits of narrowbanding, this transition process also created more channels for use in most segments of the band to address congestion.
• Establish harmonised government spectrum segments. To achieve this objective, the ACMA consolidated government security, law enforcement and public safety operations into harmonised government segments within the 400 MHz band. This was to improve radiocommunications interoperability between federal, state and territory agencies. This would result in spectrum efficiency dividends that will benefit all users of the band, including non-government users.
• Support new technologies in the band. As well as transitioning to narrowband technology, the transition to a 10 MHz Split (450–470 MHz) will provide for a wider range of technologies and equipment available to users, increasing flexibility and value of the spectrum to the end user.

Most users have successfully transitioned into these new arrangements, but there are still some users that are in the process of transition. The ACMA continues to support these agencies in transition where possible.

What is ‘milestone 3’ of those reforms?

Milestone 3 is the final milestone of the 400 MHz transition process and refers to the relocation of services in or out of government, rail and non-government spectrum, as appropriate. It is a key milestone for interoperability of the band, which was an important objective to achieve for the band, identified early in the 400 MHz project.

You’ll also be speaking about the 803–960 MHz band review. What was its purpose and what is its status?

The ACMA finalised its review of the 803–960 MHz band in November 2015. The purpose of the review was, in general, to undertake a sort of ‘defragmentation’ that would enable the band to be put to its highest-value, most-efficient use. Another key driver was the residual component of the digital TV switch-off, which included a clearance of 17 MHz of spectrum in the lower part of the 800 MHz band that is now not being used. Some of the outcomes of the review were the decision to release 2 x 15 MHz of 4G-standardised spectrum for mobile broadband and up to 7 MHz for new and innovative machine-to-machine applications and networks supporting the Internet of Things (IoT).

To make way for those new provisions, spectrum available for older technologies such as narrowband fixed links and trunked land mobile networks will be reduced and/or moved to new frequencies over the course of the 8-year implementation timetable. An implementation team is currently being established to oversee the transition arrangements that have been put in place. The implementation phase has already begun and we are less than two years away from the conclusion of the first milestone.

Can you give us a sneak peak of what the Online Customer Self Service capability is all about?

Online Customer Self Service (OCSS) is still at a very early stage. Accredited Persons (APs) are now able to submit a request via online web forms to amend the details of a client record or to surrender a licence; however, the ACMA is working towards providing this functionality to licensees. At this stage the online forms only create a request which an ACMA officer then has to action. However, the idea is that these actions will eventually occur without ACMA officer intervention. Our intention is to progressively roll out additional functionality to a broader group, including licensees, as part of a larger ACMA project to facilitate online interactions with stakeholders.

What are some top-of-the-list concerns for the ACMA at the moment?

Regarding mission-critical communications, and again tying in with the 803–960 MHz review, some parts of the band are used by emergency services for things like narrowband backhaul, and in some cases (eg, Tasmania) for primary mobile air interface. So a communications strategy to ensure operators are made aware of the changes that have resulted from the band review that might affect them will be a high property. A decisions paper exists which is a good starting point for those in industry.

From a pricing aspect, the ACMA is progressively implementing opportunity cost-based licence tax rates in the high-density areas (HDAs) of the 400 MHz band; staged over five increases each of 15%. Two increases have been implemented in August 2012 and April 2016, and the ACMA is now considering whether to introduce the third increment. As part of its consideration, the ACMA is utilising a framework specifically developed to monitor demand for spectrum in the HDAs of the 400 MHz band. The framework takes into account the feedback provided by stakeholders such as ARCIA as part of earlier considerations related to the second price increment. The consultation paper can be found at here. The ACMA looks forward to receiving submissions for interested stakeholders. Submissions close on 22 December 2016.

From a compliance aspect, the Priority Compliance Area (PCA) program is centred on a risk-based methodology and takes a strategic approach to combating high-risk compliance issues in a coordinated manner. We set our PCAs for technical compliance after gathering intelligence about compliance issues and assessing the level of risk. It is through this analysis that the systemic compliance issues requiring a robust compliance response are identified. This approach enables us to effectively focus our resources on higher-risk issues while continuing to monitor and appropriately respond to lower-risk matters.

In 2016–17, our PCA program is focused on three areas:

1. Compliance in the Harmonised Government Spectrum (HGS) within the 400 MHz band.
2. Customer cabling.
3. Interference management.

More information about the PCA program is available from the ACMA website.

Make sure you don’t miss the ACMA workshop and presentation at Comms Connect. Full details of how to attend the conference and exhibition are available on the event website.