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Australia plans spectrum management revamp

Review sets 2016 target for faster, simpler spectrum handling regime

Australia's government is moving ahead with its planned revamp of spectrum management, in the hope of replacing today's fragmented management of the RF spectrum with a single regime.

Its March-dated spectrum review - PDF here – is now open for comment. Its key recommendations are for simpler outcomes-focussed legislation, more integrated management of public sector and broadcast spectrum, and a review of spectrum pricing.

The review explains that the current regime, substantially unchanged for more than 20 years, meant it needed three years to reallocate the 700 MHz “digital dividend” spectrum.

The proposed reforms include quicker allocation and reallocation, and a reduction of governments' role in spectrum management (“through delegation of functions and user-driven dispute resolution”, the paper states). Broadcast spectrum should, the review states, be managed in the same way as other spectrum.

The paper also suggests that device supply schemes can be streamlined, and a revamp of compliance/enforcement mechanisms.

The government hopes to complete the legislative consultation by September 2015, in the hope that legislation can be passed in the first half of 2016. The legislation would let the Australian Communications and Media Authority get to work on the package from late 2016 and into 2017.

While the timing seems ambitious, there's strong industry support for revising spectrum management, and the moves would be politically non-controversial. ®

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