Communications Day – story of the week

The article below is from CommsDay (13 November 2025).  TelSoc has chosen to reprint it because it very usefully reports on the continuing debate about how spectrum prices might be set when current spectrum licences expire in the next few years.  There will undoubtedly be a lot more said on the issues involved.

AMTA defends ACMA spectrum renewal plan after ACCAN criticism

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association has defended the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s preference to renew expiring mobile spectrum licences without auction, rejecting claims by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network that the move amounts to a “financial bonanza” for major telcos.

In a Canberra Times opinion piece, ACCAN chief executive Carol Bennett described the policy as “baffling and potentially costly,” repeating previously made arguments it could cost taxpayers up to $3.2 billion in lost revenue and entrench the dominance of Optus, Telstra and TPG.

AMTA chief executive Louise Hyland countered that the claims “overlook both the facts and    the risks to consumers,” emphasising that ACMA’s process was “rigorous and transparent” and peer reviewed by international experts.

She said spectrum values have declined globally and that both ACMA and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission agreed renewal promotes competition and protects service continuity.

Hyland warned that re-auctioning spectrum “would stall billions in investment, slow regional 5G rollouts, and risk network outages as operators reconfigure equipment for new frequency bands.”

She added that “every dollar forced into needless auctions is a dollar not spent improving coverage, capacity and reliability for Australians,” calling for “ideology to be put aside” in favour of ACMA’s evidence-based approach.

Bennett, meanwhile, urged the government to “insist on an open competitive process that does not just serve the interests of the big telcos,” citing retired regulator Allan Fels and academic Richard Holden in support of auctions as the best way to determine fair market value for spectrum.

Adding to the industry’s response, Australian Telecoms Alliance chief executive Luke Coleman said “A stable and well-managed spectrum renewal process will deliver the best outcomes for Australian consumers. Enabling mobile operators to maintain consistent access to their existing spectrum rights will mean telcos can keep prices low, enable more investment, and deliver the greatest network stability at a time when consumers need reliable connectivity more than ever before.”

                                                                                                                                   Grahame Lynch

IN TODAY'S ISSUE OF COMMUNICATIONS DAY (14 November 2025)

Superloop chief executive Paul Tyler used yesterday's annual general meeting to flag further expansion of the group's smart communities footprint on the back of its new acquisition of Frontier Networks. He also outlined how NBN's Accelerate Great changes and fibre upgrade program are shaping early FY26 trading.

Telstra InfraCo is partnering with Starwood Capital Group and Doma Infrastructure Group to develop a carrier neutral data centre site in Minchinbury, Western Sydney that will be built for the AI era.

NEXTDC used yesterday's AGM in Sydney to underline the depth of its forward order book and the scale of its development program, with chair Douglas Flynn and CEO Craig Scroggie confirming that the company is preparing to deliver more digital-infrastructure capacity in the next two years than it has built in its entire 15-year history.

Unlike with 5G, telcos have real opportunities to leverage AI to transform their operations and unlock new revenue opportunities, Cisco vice president for APJ Vish Iyer told CommsDay.

Connected Farms is hopeful that Australian tests of a version of its CommsXtend offering using Amazon's Kuiper service could begin in select areas before the middle of next year, although the company's CEO, Tom Andrews, noted that the plan is subject to the build-out of the LEOsat constellation. 

Australian firms expect artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to lift productivity over time, but the Reserve Bank of Australia says the gains are likely to be slow, uneven and highly dependent on skills and regulation.

Federal Treasury has released a detailed consultation paper on the federal government's proposed News Bargaining Incentive, setting out how a new charge and deduction framework would push large digital platforms to maintain or renew commercial agreements with Australian news publishers.

Total cellular M2M/IoT connections in Australia will grow at an 8.7% CAGR to reach 22.1 million by the end of 2030, driven in part by the widespread adoption of 5G, GlobalData is predicting.

One NZ mobile connections excluding MVNOs were down 40,000 in the first half to just under 1.9 million.

Although large AI contracts have stolen the limelight CDC is not a "one trick pony" and has seen strong first-half growth across all its customer segments including government, critical infrastructure and cloud, the chief executive of its largest shareholder has said.

New analysis from bankers JPMorgan Chase & Co has identified a US$1.4 trillion funding gap over the next five years to meet market demands for data centre and artificial intelligence infrastructure capacity.

Plus more

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