Good morning and welcome to the second day of RadComms.
My name is Adam Suckling. I am an Authority Member and the Authority’s Spectrum Lead.
I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past and present and extend those respects to any First Nations guests and colleagues here today.
I am going to talk to you about the ACMA’s spectrum management role and give you a sense of the state of play, at least as we see it.
The dawn of radio spectrum use and management
Prior to being appointed to the Authority, I read a book on the history of the BBC by academic David Hendy … part of my pre-reading.
It’s a brick of a book. To be honest, I thought it would be a slog to get through. But it turned out to be a fantastic read. It plots how the founders of that organisation, John Reith, Arthur Burrows and Cecil Lewis, all driven mavericks damaged by the horrors of the First World War, set about to create the BBC.
Their vision was to take the Marconi Wireless, which used radio frequency to send signals, to create something for the good of humanity.
Hendy, the book’s author, points out that the radio frequency spectrum was first used to send a signal in 1894. It was then that British physicist Oliver Lodge used morse code to send the letter ‘S’ from one room to another.
As Hendy says, Lodge did something remarkable and profound. He demonstrated that signals could escape the confines of the telegraph cable and flow inaudibly through the open air.
The first application of this technology was sending messages to ships crossing the Atlantic. It was then used to send military signals in the First World War. And then for radio in the 1920s.
The BBC, for example, had a series of demonstration programs. They described these as their ‘news and vocal and instrumental selection.’
In this segment, you could hear vocalists like Dame Nellie Melba sing. In fact, she had broadcast the first ever live professional radio performance in 1915.
She had been reluctant to take part. ‘My voice’, she said, ‘is not subject for experimentation’. But she became more amenable when Viscount Northcliffe offered her the equivalent of $90,000 to sing for 20 minutes.
Money, it seems, sings!
The first song that she sang was Home, Sweet Home.
I am sure you are all thinking that if we did such a demonstration today it would be Taylor Swift. Shake it Off, perhaps.
But I digress.
The British government in the 1920s worried that using spectrum for radio was ‘wasteful and frivolous’ and interfered with military signals.
The sorts of questions that arose were: Melba songs or military signals? Or could you have both? The ‘cake and eat it too’ proposition.
Spectrum management was born out of such questions.
Spectrum management today – ever more complex and important
Fast forward 100 years to today and the task for managers of spectrum, which is a scarce resource, has evolved and changed dramatically.
And in thinking about these remarks today, I had been trying to get my head around a succinct summary of how best to capture these changes.
Helpfully, a colleague sent me a 2022 OECD paper entitled Developments in Spectrum Management for Communication Services.
It’s a good paper, and not just because it recognised some of the innovative work the ACMA is doing in one of those nice ‘highlight-case-study-boxes’.
It’s good because it captures well the current state of play and role of spectrum management agencies. The report says:
In a rapidly evolving technological landscape ever more dependent on spectrum, the stakes of spectrum management decisions are high and the challenges progressively complex.
Emerging technologies are rapidly transforming entire economic sectors and linking previously separate markets.
The art is striking the right balance to achieve an efficient use of spectrum today and in the future for a variety of use cases.
It goes on to say.
Agencies managing spectrum need to both anticipate and respond to new and emerging market realities as well as societal needs … while finding ways of adapting and navigating existing frameworks.
Spectrum managers, therefore, are the protagonists of the digital economy.
I bet you didn’t have ‘spectrum’, ‘art’ and ‘protagonists’ on your bingo card.
So today I’d like to talk through what guides the ACMA when making our decisions on spectrum management. I will then provide you with an update on where we are at with key decisions such as mid-band allocations, expiring spectrum licences and upper 6 GHz.
What guides the ACMA in spectrum management decisions?
So, what guides us in our decision making?
Law and government policy
The Radiocommunications Act is clear about what we must take into account.
The objective of this Act is to promote the long-term public interest derived from the use of spectrum.
We are obligated to ensure its efficient use. To support commercial, defence and non-commercial uses. And to support government policy objectives, which the minister has been clear about in her Statement of Expectations.
Among other things the minister’s statement points to supporting investment and innovation, new and emerging services, regional and remote services, and effective consumer safeguards, including for First Nations consumers.
The Act also recognises that spectrum allocation can have a significant impact on competition in downstream markets. We are obligated to seek advice from the ACCC on spectrum allocations, as we did in relation to 3.8 GHz spectrum.
The fact that we have to take into account both efficiency and competition considerations is recognition that spectrum is important economically.
We aim to ensure it is used both efficiently and in a manner that enhances competition and productivity, which increases economic and social welfare.
Industry and stakeholder consultations
And then there is you.
What you all tell us through our stakeholder consultations is also important in informing our decision making. This is because the decisions we make are deeply influenced by your innovation. By the new products you want to bring to market. And by the existing products that you offer and that customers still want. We value your intelligence and insights into what is going on in the world.
And I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your engagement with the ACMA. We understand that there is a lot on and appreciate your focus on responding to our papers, contributing to tune-ups and your direct briefings.
Naturally, we are also informed by other data and inputs, our own expertise and our knowledge that companies can talk their book.
Market and technological developments
The OECD talks about the need for spectrum managers to anticipate and respond to new and emerging technologies and market realities.
You know this. We know this.
In our Five-year spectrum outlook 2024–29, which we recently published, we identify a range of such developments, including:
- the rapid development of AI, large language models and the metaverse
- the continued growth in demand for traditional mobile broadband
- the extraordinary developments in LEO satellites
- the increasing importance of private wireless networks
- the on-going spectrum requirements of government.
I should also add that we are looking internally at ways that we may be able to use AI to better fulfil our spectrum management functions.
Innovative and flexible spectrum licensing
With rapid technological and market changes, we need to be innovative in the way we approach licensing.
I have been at the ACMA for just over a year, and my observation is that we have a pretty good track record on this front. I am thinking of area-wide licences for private wireless networks, which are flexible, technologically agnostic and have been taken up enthusiastically.
I am thinking of our clarification that the existing spectrum licensing framework can facilitate LEOsat deployments without any regulatory intervention. More on this a little later.
I am also thinking of our scientific licensing, which we changed in 2023 to make it much easier to get a scientific licence to support some of the extraordinary research and development being done in Australia.
International standards
Finally, as a relatively small nation with a limited manufacturing base, international factors influence our telecommunications market heavily.
We monitor standards developments and seek to incorporate them as best we can into our domestic framework, while tailoring things where appropriate.
As part of this we are involved in international standards-setting bodies such as the World Radio Congress.
Alongside our Departmental colleagues, we work hard to represent Australia’s interests and to influence sensible outcomes.
Standards are not a small thing. They mean telecommunications equipment works. They mean we all get the benefits of global economies of scale.
Frankly, they mean that we can live in the modern world.
The art of striking the right balance
I now turn to provide you with an update on key important decisions.
I said at the start of these remarks that, in the words of the OECD, our work is driven by:
The art (of) striking the right balance to achieve an efficient use of spectrum today and in the future for a variety of use cases.
If I think about all the work we are doing, it is all about the art of striking this balance – from mid-band to mobile licences, to the upper 6 GHz spectrum.
Mid-band
In terms of mid-band, we are continuing with our program of allocations.
As you will all appreciate, mid-band spectrum is valuable and highly useful spectrum. It hits the ‘spectrum sweet spot’ in the sense that it enables the transfer of large amounts of data over significant distances.
We have a process running where we are doing 4 allocations.
- Last year we completed the allocation of mid-band spectrum in remote and regional parts of the country. We allocated 30 licences to companies that will use them for private wireless networks, including to a number of mining companies with operations in the Pilbara. We also allocated licences to the Department of Defence and NBN Co.
- Last year we also we completed the auction of spectrum in the 3.4 GHz and 3.7 GHz bands. The successful bidders were Telstra, TPG, Optus and NBN Co. They collectively paid $720 million for their licences.
- We are currently in the process of allocating spectrum in the 3.8 GHz band in regional and fringe metropolitan areas. This spectrum is suitable for both private wireless networks and 5G mobile services. We have had a strong response to this process and hope to announce the final allocation outcome sometime next month.
- Finally, on mid-band spectrum we are currently consulting on arrangements for spectrum that can be used for wireless broadband in very small areas, known as highly localised wireless broadband. This could be used by shopping malls to enhance indoor coverage and connectivity, for example. Our paper was issued on 17 October.
Upper 6 GHz
Turning to upper 6 GHz. This band can be used for both 6G mobile broadband (faster than 5G) and for the next generation of wi-fi technology.
We moved 6 GHz from the monitoring to pre-planning stage last year. We issued a consultation paper. We have received responses to this paper.
There was not much common ground between those advocating for this band to be used for 6G mobile and those advocating for next generation wi-fi. The vibe was all a bit the Montagues versus the Capulets.
We are working through what will best serve the public interest and will release our preliminary views around December.
Expiring spectrum licences
We are doing a herculean amount of work on expiring spectrum licences.
These are the licences held by mobile operators, who use it for wireless broadband. They are also held by media companies, which use it for electronic news gathering. And they are held by state rail corporations, which use it for network signaling. These licences all start expiring between 2028 and 2032.
We are acutely aware of the importance of this spectrum to industry.
We are conducting a 4-stage process to guide stakeholders in making applications and to aid us in our consideration. We have been clear that we can either renew, partially renew, or not renew these licences. The latter 2 options would free up a range of possibilities for reuse of the spectrum.
We are currently considering submissions on the usage that incumbents make of their existing spectrum holdings. And have also sought views on what other prospective users might do with such spectrum.
We will release our preliminary views for consultation in the first quarter of next calendar year.
In Q1 we will also release our views on the methodology to determine spectrum pricing along with prices per band on a per MHz/per pop basis.
The minister asked us to provide her with advice on possible mobile licence conditions. These potential licence conditions cover things such as network rollout obligations and ‘use it or share it’ obligations. We are aiming to provide this advice to the minister before the end of the year.
New services over satellite
On direct-to-handset services provided over LEOsats, we were asked by industry to clarify if these services can be provided via existing mobile licences.
We have recently confirmed that the answer to this question is: yes.
This means that national spectrum licence holders can come to arrangements with LEOsat operators to provide services outside their network footprint, without further regulatory approvals.
As Communications Day put it, ‘What is noticeable about the final decision is that it eliminates any form of red tape when it comes to satellite-to-mobile’.
We also made clear in that decision that the concerns of the radio astronomy community need to be investigated further and the parties should work together to resolve issues.
Amateur radio
We have also undertaken a significant amount of work on amateur radio, moving amateur radio from apparatus- to class-licensing arrangements.
We worked closely with the amateur radio community on the licensing change, which benefits operators as they no longer need to apply to us for a licence and do not need to pay a licence fee to operate.
We see this work as a good example of our continuing to adjust our statutory arrangements to ensure they are fit for purpose.
Approach to spectrum allocation
Before concluding I’d like to make some brief points on spectrum allocations.
Flexibility and simplicity is something we want to bring to as much of our spectrum management practice as possible. Our approach ranges from auctions to over-the-counter allocations.
For certain types of spectrum and demand scenarios, we generally prefer auctions, as we consider market-based allocations may increase the likelihood spectrum is allocated to uses that best promote the long-term public interest.
We do not use so called ‘beauty contests’ for these scenarios, as once you have allocated the spectrum it can be difficult to hold licensees to their promises.
We usually allocate apparatus licences administratively.
Conclusion
I started this update with some reflections on the binary choice facing spectrum managers in the 1920s, between songs and signals.
Today spectrum is utilised for such a dazzling array of uses that I suspect even a room as expert as this would struggle to list every use case.
The theme of this conference is Supporting the present, empowering the future, and is our way of expressing the art of spectrum management.
Conferences like this are an important way of furthering this artistry. Thank you.