Making spectrum work in the public interest
Good morning and welcome to RadComms 2026.
My name is Adam Suckling. I am Acting Chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority. I am also 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.
Over the next two days we will cover the big issues, including the potentially transformative effects of Low Earth Orbit satellites, cutting-edge developments in technology, and our work at the coming Brisbane Olympics.
Theme
At a time of falling trust in institutions globally, it is more important than ever we deliver on our spectrum management mandate to promote the long-term public interest.
For me, we do this every day:
- by supporting productivity, which sustains our living standards
- by assisting the delivery of a huge range of public services, which allow us all to better live in this world, and
- by standing up for consumers, including helping ensure their wireless devices work.
There is a recurring criticism that regulatory frameworks cannot keep up with technological advances, and our frameworks could be updated.
But I think it is worth noting that in Australia we have designed a spectrum regulatory framework that is generally flexible, scalable and effective.
This is not to say that there are not changes we can make to improve the overall telecommunications regulatory framework.
The Government is doing just this with, for instance, its Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation policy and also its approach to beefing up the enforcement provisions covering telecommunications codes. We have welcomed both these measures.
Structure
To address these themes, I will talk about our regulatory framework, including how the ideas of an 18th Century Scottish economist have made their way into it.
I will then describe the seven main elements of the spectrum management framework the ACMA administers, which provides us with an effective toolkit.
Following this I will cover public trust and the importance of regulators delivering on their mandate, which I think we do by supporting productivity, public services and consumers.
I’ll then provide an overview of recent and upcoming spectrum decisions, including those related to two hotly debated subjects – expiring spectrum licences and 2 GHz MSS spectrum.
Finally, I will briefly outline some of the work we are doing on telecommunications consumer protections.
The famous pin factory and the Scottish economist
Who then is that Scottish economist whose ideas ended up here? I’ll introduce him by going back to my final year at Sydney University.
I took a course called ‘The History of Economic Thought’ which as you would expect, covered the pantheon of economic thinkers.
The academic who led the course was a Dutch Australian man called Professor Peter Groenewegen. He was a brilliant man with a rigorous, forbidding old-school manner.
He always addressed his students formally.
“Mr Suckling,” Professor Groenewegen asked suddenly in one tutorial, “What is the relevance of Mr Smith’s pin factory to the discipline of economics?”
Now, as I am sure some of you may recall, after a big night even a university tutorial at 4.00 o’clock in the afternoon could see you rocking up a little the worse for wear.
Accordingly, I mumbled something about specialisation of labour and productivity. Luckily this seemed to satisfy the good professor.
He was asking about the famous Scottish economist Adam Smith, who starts his book The Wealth of Nations with a description of the operation of an 18th Century pin factory.
Smith uses the pin factory to demonstrate that breaking the manufacturing process into 18 specialist tasks meant that 10 workers could produce 48,000 pins a day whereas an individual doing each of these 18 tasks sequentially could barely make one pin a day.
It is probably one of the most famous descriptions of an industrial process in economics.
He showed that the performance of an economy is dependent on the performance of individual firms. Efficient firms help create the wealth of nations.
These ideas were expanded on by English economist Alfred Marshall in the 19th Century, who is generally seen as the founder of microeconomics.
Policy settings and spectrum regulatory framework
Fast forward to Australia and the latter part of the 20th and early 21st Centuries, when these ideas animated policymaking here.
I am sure many of you will remember, in the 1990s policymakers were concerned with microeconomic questions – including the poor performance of state-owned utilities.
To address these problems, the Government introduced policy changes that put efficiency, competition and productivity at the heart of our regulatory regimes.
These included changes to our approach to managing spectrum that put efficiency at the core of the Radiocommunications Act.
The Act says that the ACMA must manage spectrum in the long-term public interest.
To do this, we must:
- facilitate the efficient planning, allocation and use of spectrum
- support commercial and non-commercial uses, and
- support government communications policy.
The elements of a highly effective spectrum management framework
The framework has bestowed on the ACMA a set of regulatory tools that allows us to manage spectrum effectively.
And without wanting to be overly biblical about it, there are seven key elements to the framework.
First, we manage and put a price on spectrum to ensure it is efficiently used – so that it is not wasted or hoarded but is used to provide services that Australians want.
Second, we take into account facilitating competition when allocating spectrum – to allow new entrants so that consumers benefit from competitive markets.
Third, we offer highly flexible spectrum licences – so that spectrum holders can innovate and offer new services using the same licences.
Fourth, we allow spectrum holders to trade or authorise third-party use – so that it’s used more efficiently and in ways that benefit consumers.
Fifth, we incorporate international standards into spectrum decisions – so that Australians get the benefits of global production.
Sixth, we impose technical rules on spectrum licence holders – so that trillions of wireless devices do not interfere with each other.
And seventh, we support non-commercial uses and government policy priorities – so that public services work in Australia and we help advance government policy.
The seven elements of this Act are interlocking and work together, like cogs in a machine if you will, to deliver positive outcomes in the public interest.
Supporting productivity, public services and consumers
I turn now to the benefits that our spectrum management helps deliver.
In talking about this I am conscious, as the OECD has pointed out, that around the world there’s been an erosion in trust in government’s ability to address problems.1
Globally, this is driven by things such as the challenges of new crises, ageing populations, technological change and high public expectations.
I am also conscious that high profile events reported in emotionally charged ways can affect people’s perception of the effectiveness of government bodies.
None of this is good. As the OECD has said, declines in trust in government undermine social cohesion and people’s faith in our ability to collectively solve problems.
At this time then, it is more important than ever that the ACMA deliver on our mandate, which is to promote the long-term public interest.
We have a good track record. We support productivity and economic growth. We help underwrite public services. And we help provide untold benefits to consumers.
Economic growth
Taking the first of these – economic growth and its driver, productivity.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman puts it this way, “Productivity is not everything, but in the long run it is almost everything”.
This is because productivity is the long-term driver of prosperity.
We support productivity by licensing wireless connectivity.
For instance, we licence:
- maritime, rail and aeronautical radio systems that support safe and expeditious transport, and
- new and innovative technologies, like remote monitoring that support automation in mining, agriculture and manufacturing.
Such licensing helps light up the simply vast number of services that drive Australia’s economy.
Further, the microeconomic reforms of the 1990s, of which efficient spectrum management was integral, played an important role in driving productivity.
The Productivity Commission pointed out in a paper for Treasurer Chalmers’ Productivity Roundtable that the 1990 reforms:
“led to higher levels of business investment, better choices for customers and a permanent 2.5% increase in GDP by the end of the 1990s”.2
So, if anyone wonders why many of our spectrum allocation processes focus on efficiency, competition, investment and innovation, this is why.
These things drive productivity.
Public services
Our spectrum management work also directly supports Australian public services.
When I think about this, as surprising as this might seem, I think about one of the swimming groups in Sydney, the Bondi Salties.
They swim across the bay every Friday at 6.30 AM come rain, hail or shine.
Their tag on their Instagram page is ‘All Welcome’. In the height of summer more than 500 people sometimes swim the bay.
And each Thursday, the facilitator of the swim will send a message on WhatsApp telling swimmers about expected conditions – the height of the waves, the temperature of the water, the movement of the currents and the speed and direction of the wind.
He has access to this information because the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) provides it to anyone who wants it.
This includes the millions of Australians who swim at beaches and camp in national parks across the country – to cite just two examples.
Spectrum allocations help make the generation and provision of weather and water information possible.
The BOM holds the third-highest number of apparatus licences of any public sector organisation, which it uses to support a wide range of observation systems.
The BOM service is but one of the vast number of services the public sector provides to Australians.
My example is just a drop in the ocean, you could say.
The ACMA also licences spectrum for defence, national security, law enforcement, transport, aviation, and emergency services - to provide just some examples.
Consumers
Let’s turn now to consumers. Our spectrum work supports every Australian consumer, every day, whenever they use a wireless device.
I am going to illustrate this with reference to Taylor Swift. Unexpected, perhaps.
I am sure many of you were invited to the wedding but had to decline as you were responding to ACMA spectrum consultations.
Imagine that Taylor Swift returns to the MCG to do a reprise of her Eras Tour of 2024. Let’s call it her Eras Redux 2031 tour. Travis is looking after their newborn while on tour.
A mother, Beverly, and her 14-year-old daughter, Emma, are going to Eras Redux at the MCG along with 96,000 other fans.
In 2031, Emma can use her new 6G phone and intelligent eyewear, to upload rich augmented reality videos from Eras Redux.
She can do this because her MNO invested in new network technology and because it can use the same spectrum it’s used for 4G and 5G because of the ACMA’s flexible licensing.
Emma can also send a message to her sister Holly, who lives well outside terrestrial mobile coverage from Eras Redux using LEO sats.
How? Her mobile provider has an agreement with a LEO sat operator, and the messages are sent over spectrum licensed by the ACMA.
Emma can enjoy Swift singing the ever-popular Shake It Off over her wireless mic without static interference from the trains pulling into Richmond station.
This is because the mic and train signalling equipment adhere to the ACMA’s technical standards which help multiple services to co-exist.
This example illustrates that our spectrum management helps ensure consumers get the benefits of global production chains, new and innovative products introduced in a timely manner and is critical in ensuring that all these devices actually work in Australia.
Recent decisions
Expiring spectrum licences
I would like to turn now to expiring spectrum licences, or ESL. We finalised the decision on our preferred views for ESLs in May this year. It has been criticised by some stakeholders.
Trust in our decision-making process is important, as I said earlier. So, I’ll outline what we have done and then address the criticism.
What we are talking about is almost 70 spectrum licences which will expire between 2028 and 2032.
These are used by:
- mobile operators to provide over 30 million mobile services
- NBN Co to provide fixed wireless services to around 400,000 customers
- metropolitan railway operators to support signalling necessary to run the trains
- the free-to-air networks for television outside broadcasts.
At its highest level, we had to make two decisions on ESL:
- whether to renew, partially renew, or not renew the licences, and
- if we decide to renew the licences, what is the value of the spectrum.
In making these decisions we were guided by the policy objectives in our legislation, which include ensuring the efficient management of spectrum.
We were also bound to have regard to a Ministerial Policy Statement on ESL, which among other things said we must consider continuity of service.
What we decided
After a sound and highly rigorous four-stage consultation process, this is what we decided.
In terms of whether to renew or not, we decided that we are predisposed to:
- renewing Telstra, Optus and TPG’s licences
- renewing NBN Co’s licences, and
- continuing to support rail operators and broadcasters through apparatus licences.
In terms of the ESL price, we decided:
- to set a market value on the spectrum, as this best supports efficiency, and
- use a peer-reviewed benchmarking study to determine this market value.
The value this rigorous process produced is $7.32 billion for the ESL spectrum used by the mobile operators and NBN Co.
The term of the mobile spectrum licences, if they are renewed, it will be to 2044.
Our decision to set a price that will drive the efficient use of spectrum is not only consistent with the Act but is also squarely within the tradition of regulatory decisions going back to the 1990s that have successfully delivered for Australia, including in driving productivity.
Response to public criticism
Turning now to the public criticism we have received since we announced our decision.
Most of this public criticism has come from the mobile operators and their representative body the Australian Telecommunications Association (ATA).
And I know that Luke Coleman the CEO of the ATA is in the house, welcome Luke.
The mobile operators have not criticised us for our decision that says that our preferred view is to renew their licences. They agree with it.
But they have criticised our pricing decision, sometimes in terms that are designed for maximum public relations effect.
Now, it’s not my first rodeo. I understand the function of media releases in a lobbying campaign. I do though need to address the claims.
The mobile operators have said that the value we set is too high. It will mean that they will invest less in mobile networks.
The ACMA does not agree. As highly respected analysts Ian Martin and DotEcon pointed out, network investment decisions are primarily based on future revenue expectations.
And Mr Martin makes clear that in the medium term the revenue outlook for mobile operators is relatively strong.
The mobile operators also said that our spectrum valuation will mean that they will need to put up their prices.
The ACMA does not accept the direct relationship they are drawing between our spectrum valuation and price increases. This is because:
- the total spectrum price that we have set is lower than what they currently incur
- spectrum charges on an annualised basis are a small part of their overall costs, and
- they spread the upfront costs of acquiring the asset over the long life of the asset.
This means that when the CEOs of Telstra, Optus and TPG look at their P&L, the annual amortisation charge for renewed ESL spectrum licence will remain the same each year.
It will likely be one of the only costs that stays flat until 2044. Every other cost on a per-unit basis will increase including labour costs, IT licensing costs and network costs.
And then of course, in the tried and tested way of trying to discredit something you do not like, the ATA described the spectrum access charge as a ‘tax’.
A tax?
It’s not a tax. It’s the price of access to a Commonwealth asset, over which mobile operators made over $15 billion last financial year, and which they will hold until the year 2044.
Other decisions
We have made many more decisions including facilitating AM to FM radio conversion, which has improved the quality of signal for many Australian radio listeners.
We have also issued technical specifications for 1900 MHz to enable the future of rail safety communications, issued over 100 area-wide licences, which facilitates productivity and innovation and made a pioneering decision on upper 6 GHz.
I do not have time to go into the details but urge you to read our Five-Year Spectrum Outlook if you would like more information.
2 GHz MSS spectrum
I said I would also cover 2 GHz MSS spectrum. This is spectrum that can be used by LEO sats to provide services to mobile phones which are able to receive the signal.
The market and technology are changing rapidly, raising significant implications for competition, regional and remote communications and national sovereignty.
In such circumstances, we believe it is important to take the time to get this spectrum allocation right, rather than to rush a decision and get it wrong.
To the extent the 2 GHz MSS decision may be related to the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation (or UOMO), any decision we make, and its timing, will have regard to the Government’s UOMO policy priorities.
Telecommunications consumer protections
Prior to closing, I will make some remarks about consumer protections in telecommunications.
It is true that Australia’s telecommunications companies provide Australians with products that have transformed our lives and help support the digital economy.
They invest, they innovate, they employ Australians.
Regrettably though, when you look at recent data breaches, extended outages and egregiously poor sales practices, it raises serious questions about the industry’s practices.
This is a key reason public trust in the telecommunications sector is low. Roy Morgan says it’s lower than that of any other sector3. The industry has work to do to lift public trust.
As the regulator, the ACMA is deeply concerned about the poor behaviour and potential and actual breaches of the law.
We have taken a full suite of measures to address these problems including the following:
- We have introduced new standards that the telcos must comply with covering financial hardship and domestic, sexual and family violence.
- We have moved to introduce a new Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) standard which covers things like sales and marketing practices, credit management and consumer remedies.
- In accordance with a Direction from Minister Wells, we have introduced a new standard to improve the way mobile operators present their coverage maps.
- We have enacted the SMS Sender ID Register from 1 July to help protect Australians from text message impersonation scams.
- We have commenced proceedings against Optus in relation to its 18 September 2025 outage, which affected people’s ability to connect to emergency services.
Conclusion
In conclusion then.
I know that I have covered an unlikely cast of characters in these remarks – from an 18th Century Scottish economist through to the very 21st Century Taylor Swift.
But I hope in the process I have been able to demonstrate to you that, taken as a whole, the ACMA does a good job in promoting the public interest.
I would like to thank you all for coming to RadComms 2026.
I would also like to thank you all for making submissions to our consultations. We cannot do the work we do without all of you.
We need the knowledge you share on where technology, markets and consumers are heading.
And of course, none of this works without the enormous investments and thrilling innovations by the companies that many of the people in this room work for.
RadComms is an important part of the process of sharing ideas and seeking to understand where the world is heading so we can make informed decisions.
Please enjoy the next two days. And thank you for listening.
1. OECD, Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions Results, 2026.
2. Productivity Commission, Growth mindset: how to boost Australia’s productivity, August 2025.
3. Communications Day, 2 June 2026.