French owned satellite operator EutelSat is poised to beam into the Australian market after securing a carrier licence and announcing that it will launch a new satellite covering Australia by year's end. In late August, EutelSat’s US arm EutelSat America was granted an Australian telecommunications carrier licence by ACMA. …

The days of “black letter law” regulation are numbered, according to ACMA chairman and CEO Chris Chapman, with technology changing and converging faster than legislation can keep up. Delivering the ACS / Telecommunications Society Charles Todd Oration yesterday, Chapman said the fast-moving telecommunications environment …

Australia needs an extra 100 million phone numbers for mobile devices, says the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which has taken the first step towards that goal by setting out plans for new numbers that start with “05”. All Australian mobile numbers have, until now, started with “04”. ACMA says the new 05 …

The long-awaited telecommunications consumer protection (TCP) code, designed to push Australian telcos to clean up their terrible track record, has been adopted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The regulatory authority’s recent inquiry into telcos' customer service found that annual recurring costs …

Australia's free-to-air TV broadcasters and the publically-owned ABC have been handed an additional $53.5m to help shift them off the highly lucrative 2.5 GHz spectrum band. Clearing this spectrum band will open the flood gates for the government to auction licences for high bandwidth mobile broadband networks such as LTE. …

Coverage of the 2012 Olympic games available in Australia will feature daily highlights in 3D, after the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s green light for Network Nine to conduct extra-dimensional trials during the eveent. In 2010 Network Nine and the Seven network were awarded 3D TV trial licences, the last …

Premium mobile service providers are again under surveillance by the communications regulator over getting away with misleading practices. The Australian Communications and Media Authority has lodged a new Mobile Premium Services Industry Code, which outlines tougher rules for the advertising and provision of premium rate SMS …

Australian carriers, voice services and ISPs will be forced to take their obligations to the rights of consumers seriously under a new revised consumer code from industry group, the Communications Alliance. The new Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code has been submitted to the Australian Communications and Media …

Nokia has fallen foul of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, incurring a $AU55,000 fine following consumer complaints over its SMS marketing practices. The watchdog commenced an investigation into the vendor’s SMS marketing activity and found that Nokia’s text ‘tips’ delivered to handset users did not include …

The house of VHA is in trouble with authorities again, this time attracting the ire of the Australian Communications and Media Authority for breaching the ‘Do Not Call Register’ Act. VHA has submitted to an enforceable undertaking after a raft of consumer complaints emerged concerning rogue telemarketers spruiking the products …

Australian mobile carriers are turning activist in the lead up to the Federal Government’s final determination on the pricing for retaining their 800MHz mobile licences. According to a draft determination issued by communications minister Stephen Conroy late last year mobile network operators Telstra, Vivid Wireless and …

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has been slammed as a toothless tiger for setting the bar too low in protecting consumer privacy. The Australian Privacy Foundation claims that the regulator has “dropped the ball twice in one week”, firstly in its restrained wrath in dealing with Vodafone and in its revised …

The Seven Network has been cleared of violating privacy provisions of the television code, after the network broadcast pictures and messages sourced from a memorial Facebook tribute page for a murdered woman. The Australian Communications and Media Authority investigated whether the broadcast of material sourced from Facebook …

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says mobile numbers could be exhausted by 2017, according to a discussion paper canvassing revisions to this country’s numbering plan. The last time the ACMA mapped out the future of telephone numbers, it expected the mobile pool to last until 2027, but Australia’s …

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has given telecommunications providers a five deadline to improve customer services as a result of the 12 month investigation into the industry’s consumer code of practice. ACMA chairman Chris Chapman said that improvements are “both urgent and necessary.” The report revealed …

A meme from last year that the "Web is dead" doesn't seem to have stopped Australian 'net users, for whom that and e-mail remain the inescapable daily activity, according to a research paper published by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Its latest analysis of Internet usage also restates the …

As mobile carriers prepare to upgrade to 4G/LTE networks, Australia’s free to air broadcasters and Foxtel are bracing for potentially significant and costly interference to their transmissions. Earlier this month UK regulator Ofcom estimated that it would cost £100m to deal with the disruption caused by 4G transmitters to over …

Australia may enjoy some of the highest teledensity levels in the world, but the more calls made, the less the understanding of pricing and billing information, claims the Australian Communications and Media Authority. New research from ACMA reveals that the vast majority of Australian telephone consumers have a “patchy …