Supporting Australians’ access to telecommunications services

The Australian Government has this week amended the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018 and the Telecommunications Code of Practice 2018 to enable carriers to deploy temporary facilities, including temporary towers, as low-impact facilities in certain circumstances including emergencies.

Temporary facilities include a Cell on Wheels which provides temporary cellular network coverage, and a Network on Wheels which can be deployed by NBN Co Limited to provide temporary NBN services.

The changes will enable telecommunications carriers to better manage their networks and provide telecommunications services to families and communities in Australia.

The Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said: “This summer’s severe bushfires demonstrated the importance of telecommunications carriers making use of their temporary network assets to provide quality services to Australian families and businesses.”

“In the aftermath of the bushfires, when safe to do so, the telcos deployed temporary facilities to keep impacted communities connected. These changes to telecommunications regulations make it more efficient for them to do so in future and provide the telcos more flexibility to respond quickly in rapidly changing circumstances,” Minister Fletcher said.

“The new amendments will also enable carriers to continue to provide emergency services such as fire, police and ambulance services access to essential telecommunications services, particularly in emergency situations.”

The amendments will enable carriers to deploy temporary facilities, including temporary towers in a cost-effective, efficient and nationally consistent way.

Strong safeguards and conditions apply to carriers deploying these types of facilities, including time limits on how long a facility can be deployed, height limits and rules on where the facility can be located. These conditions balance the interests of carriers to meet increasing customer demands whilst protecting the community and landowner interests.

/Public Release. View in full here.