Mr ALBANESE (Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) (9:34 AM) —I move:

The Radiocommunications Amendment Bill 2010 proposes amendments to the Radiocommunications Act 1992 (the act) to:

• give the independent radiocommunications regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA for short), greater flexibility in the timeframe in which it can commence reissuing spectrum licences;
• allow the ACMA to issue class licences in the same spectrum space allocated or designated for spectrum licences (coexistence);
• vary the treatment of certain ministerial determinations and directions made under the act; and
• provide additional clarity for ministerial directions to the ACMA relating to spectrum access charges.

In the late 1990s, the government commenced auctioning a number of spectrum licences to support a market-based approach to the licensing of radiofrequency spectrum.

The licences had a 15-year tenure, flexible conditions and were fully tradeable. Australia was amongst the first countries in the world to issue licences on this basis.

Many of these licences are now used by telecommunication carriers to provide mobile phone and wireless access services to millions of Australians.

The first of the 15-year licences are due to expire in 2013 with the remainder by 2017.

Currently the act requires the ACMA to publish a notice advising which spectrum licences are due to expire within the next two years, and inviting expressions of interest in the spectrum, but prevents it from doing this earlier.

The ACMA is also restricted from issuing draft spectrum licences as part of their marketing plan until two years prior to the licences’ expiry.

Incumbent licensees have consistently called for greater certainty about licence reissue.

Without such certainty it is claimed that there will be a reluctance to maintain investment in infrastructure and service provision with potential adverse impacts on coverage and service quality.

The bill amends the act to remove the current timing constraint which restricts the ACMA to publishing notices about expiring spectrum licences and publishing draft spectrum licences to two years prior to licence expiry.

Removing this time constraint will provide greater flexibility for the ACMA in terms of when it can commence licence reissue processes and allows the industry greater certainty, which it is calling for.

The ACMA would still be required to seek expressions of interest for spectrum licences prior to expiry.

The bill also amends the act to permit coexistence of class licences and spectrum licences in the same spectrum band.

New technologies are being developed that could greatly increase the technical and productive efficiency of spectrum use, and allow devices to share spectrum with traditional radiocommunciations without harmful interference.

Over time there will be widespread adoption of new technologies in a range of devices that would be readily available in Australia.

These new technologies may be authorised for use in Australia by the ACMA under class licences.

Under current legislation, in bands subject to spectrum licensing, the only way to accommodate these new technologies is through a third-party authorisation by the incumbent spectrum licensee. To date, experience has shown this to be problematic.

It is important that the Australian radiocommunications regulatory framework is sufficiently flexible to meet such challenges and to enhance the effective management and allocation of spectrum.

The bill makes additional amendments to clarify the operation of provisions relating to the variation of existing class licences to coexist with spectrum licences in the same spectrum allocation.

The bill includes adequate safeguards.

Before applying any coexistence provisions involving class licences in a spectrum licensed allocation, the ACMA would be required to develop adequate safeguards through consultation with industry.

The ACMA would also need to satisfy itself that the new technologies coexist without unacceptable interference to primary services and are in the public interest.

The amendments on coexistence will not affect current spectrum licences and licensees. The new arrangement will only impact future new or reissued spectrum licences issued after the amendments take effect.

The bill amends the act to make ministerial determinations specifying classes of services for which reissuing the same licence to the same licensee is in the public interest—legislative instruments that are not subject to disallowance.

These determinations will, however, be published on the Register of Legislative Instruments.

These changes are proposed in order to minimise unnecessary delays in the reissuance process. Delays from the possible disallowance of a determination could have a material negative impact on conducting licence reissue discussions with incumbent licensees, particularly those licences which are due to expire in mid-2013.

The bill further amends the act so ministerial directions to the ACMA concerning spectrum access charges are not legislative instruments.

The measure is consistent with existing provisions in the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 that instruments of this kind are not legislative in nature.

The amendment will also protect commercially sensitive pricing information relating to the licence reissue discussions from being published before ACMA reissue processes are completed.

Consistent with current practices, it is expected the ACMA would make known the prices paid for reissued licences once the reissuance process is complete.

Finally, the bill makes a minor amendment—for the avoidance of doubt—that a ministerial spectrum access direction may require the charge to reflect the amount the minister considers to be the value of the spectrum. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mr Chester) adjourned.