Australians in the bush could one day switch to whichever mobile network has signal, under a reform the competition regulator will spend the next year weighing and Telstra has already ruled out supporting.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Wednesday began a 12-month inquiry into whether to declare one or more wholesale mobile services. The most consequential is domestic roaming, which would let a phone hop onto a rivalβs network outside its own providerβs coverage area. The inquiry will also examine a radio access network service, covering the towers and radio equipment carriers would share.
Telstra shares fell almost 2 per cent to about $5 after the announcement, with analysts flagging a risk to the pricing premium the company charges on the back of its network advantage.
A declaration would compel an operator to sell access to competitors, with the ACCC able to set prices and other terms where commercial talks fail. The regulator has examined roaming three times, in 1998, 2005 and 2017, and declined to intervene each time.
βThe telecommunications sector is changing rapidly, with new technologies creating opportunities and challenges for mobile coverage and competition,β ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said. βAt the same time there are growing calls for the ACCC to intervene.β
Brakey said the regulator had not formed a view and would hold forums in regional and remote communities. A discussion paper is expected in September.
The inquiry lands weeks after the July national outage that disrupted rail networks in NSW and Victoria, knocked out payment systems and interfered with Triple Zero calls. The 2024 Regional Telecommunications Review recommended the communications minister direct the ACCC to look again at roaming. No direction was issued, and the regulator has now moved on its own initiative.
Telstra, which has the most to lose, said its position had not changed. βTelstra opposes mandated domestic mobile roaming … because it results in worse long-term network outcomes for all Australians, especially those in regional Australia,β a spokeswoman said, citing weaker investment incentives, congestion and the risk of signalling storms.
The carrier argued the case had weakened since the last review: Optus and TPG have their commercial network-sharing deal, satellite-to-mobile services are arriving, the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation will require all three operators to provide outdoor coverage everywhere, and industry work on temporary disaster roaming is advanced. That scheme, which lets customers use a rival network during a natural disaster, is expected to be running around October. Telstra supports it, but opposes generalised access imposed by regulation.
Consumer advocates want the ACCC to focus on how roaming would be implemented rather than debating whether it should happen at all.
βThe government already have the evidence and the legislative pathway needed to act now,β Australian Communications Consumer Action Network chief executive Carol Bennett said, pointing to the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation Bill before parliament, which she said could be amended to let the ACCC declare roaming.
Bennett said the ACCC was not required to weigh public safety, making mandated roaming a decision for communications minister Anika Wells. ACCANβs April survey found 94 per cent of respondents who held a firm view supported roaming.
Greens communications spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said public safety should be written into the inquiryβs terms of reference and that Canada and New Zealand had already mandated roaming, while Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has pushed roaming as a practical fix for regional coverage.
National Farmersβ Federation chief executive Mike Guerin said mandatory roaming would make every Australian safer, while National Rural Health Alliance board chair Heather Keighley said the 12-month timetable risked delaying equity in rural health care.
Wells welcomed the inquiry, saying it would inform the outdoor coverage obligation and the coming 2 GHz mobile satellite service spectrum allocation. The government said disaster roaming was industry-led and separate.
TPG Telecom, the smallest of the three networks and the clearest beneficiary of regulated access, said the inquiry was a chance to improve coverage and choice. Its regional sharing deal with Optus, struck after the ACCC blocked a proposed tie-up with Telstra in 2022, has extended TPGβs reach to 99 per cent of the population.
Optus welcomed the inquiry without taking a position, saying the sector faced unprecedented investment demands in connectivity, resilience and cyber security.
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David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X or email.