From CommsDay of 14 May 2026
This week is Federal Budget Week, so this week’s CommsDay Story of the Week is based on two articles in Thursday’s issue on the impact of the budget on the sector, and responses to matters announced in the budget that relate to telecommunications and IT infrastructure, investment and innovation.
CommsDay published three articles on the budget – the first was positive industry reaction to the specific measures to facilitate infrastructure planning and to expedite implementation. We have reprinted that as the first article. The second article in CommsDay on the budget was about the concerns of regional and rural organisations, and others, about the failure of the budget to extend funding for the Regional Tech Hub and about allowing a number of other regional programs to run down. We have not re-printed this article. The gist of the story is as stated above. You can follow it up in CommsDay directly, or in other media. The third article in CommsDay is about the differing responses within parts of the tech sector to the changes in Capital Gains Tax (CGT) announced in the budget and potential reduction in key incentives to innovate and invest. We have reprinted that article as well.
On Thursday (14th) Louise Hyland, CEO of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) was the speaker at TelSoc’s lunchtime webinar. She spoke about approvingly of many of the budget initiatives. We have uploaded her speech to the event page of the TelSoc website – see https://telsoc.org/news/event/unlocking-the-next-wave-of-network-evolution-investing-in-australias-mobile-future/ Her speech was covered in today’s CommsDay as well.
Industry welcomes planning reforms as ACCC gets enforcement boost
Telecommunications industry bodies and NBN Co have welcomed federal budget measures to streamline infrastructure approvals and modernise telecommunications legislation, saying planning and regulatory delays are slowing mobile and fibre deployment at a time when digital infrastructure demand is rising.
The budget said the government would modernise the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the National Broadband Network Companies Act
2011 to improve the rollout of fibre and new telecommunications infrastructure, enable the removal of redundant facilities and enhance NBN services in multi-dwelling and commercial buildings. The government said the measures would support further investment in digital connectivity.
A spokesperson for communications minister Anika Wells said telecommunications infrastructure was “a key enabler of
Australia’s digital economy” and helped drive productivity by improving connectivity. “The proposed reforms will improve and streamline approval processes for telecommunications infrastructure as well as improving and simplifying regulations,” the spokesperson said. “We want to make it easier for telcos to invest in infrastructure to support Australians and boost productivity which is what these reforms will help do.” The spokesperson said the government would consult on the reforms, including on draft legislation.
CommsDay understands the measures would build on work with stakeholders through the Mobile Telecommunications Working Group, the Productivity Commission’s roundtable and ongoing engagement with industry, councils, public utilities and other landowners.
CommsDay has also learned the reforms would also aim to improve NBN services in multi-dwelling buildings to enable consumers to access a wider range of current and emerging building management solutions, and promote access to towers and facilities to maximise the use of existing infrastructure, reduce duplicate deployment and boost competition and connectivity. It is unclear exactly what these reforms will entail until consultation is released.
However there was some industry concern over references to changes to the NBN Companies Act and the delivery of services in new developments and multi-dwelling buildings, particularly as to whether any changes could affect private infrastructure competition or expand NBN Co’s role beyond standard wholesale broadband services.
NBN Co said it welcomed the foreshadowed amendments. “We support legislative changes that will improve the rollout of fibre and new telecommunications infrastructure, including the delivery of services to multi-dwelling residential and commercial buildings,” the company said. “We look forward to working with the Australian Government on these important amendments.”
The NBN Act does not deal with powers and immunities, but does contain provisions limiting the telco’s remit to wholesale services as well as clarifying the access it must provide third parties to its infrastructure.
ATA, AMTA WELCOME: The Australian Telecommunications Alliance said the government’s commitment to “streamline approvals for telecommunications infrastructure”, announced as part of broader productivity measures, addressed a key proposal in its pre-budget submission. ATA CEO Luke Coleman said telecoms networks were “critical national infrastructure” and that making it easier to build mobile towers and fibre-optic cables would deliver more coverage, capacity and resilience.
“Red tape is holding back construction of new telecoms networks at the very time Australia needs it most,” Coleman said. “This commitment to streamlining approvals is a positive step, and we look forward to working with the Government to progress specific reforms.”
The ATA said one fibre-optic backbone between two capital cities had required more than 3,000 land access activity notices, 1,128 construction certificates, 1,723 land access surveys and 171 cultural heritage and environmental assessments. It also said new mobile towers under the Mobile Black Spot Program could take three to five years to build, with development approvals taking more than six months on average.
The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association also welcomed the budget measures, pointing to the government’s commitment to modernise the Telecommunications Act and a $500m investment to establish nationally consistent, streamlined approval pathways. AMTA CEO Louise Hyland said the announcement appeared to be “clear, sensible policy” that reflected the need to
modernise and standardise planning and regulatory frameworks.
“Strong and reliable mobile telecommunications have never been more important, but the current system is slow and inconsistent, often resulting in costly and avoidable delays,” Hyland said. She said the measures could help cut red tape for mobile network infrastructure applications and avoid duplication with state and territory controls.
AMTA said its March Future of Mobile report found a 10% improvement in regulatory practice would likely deliver a 4% uplift in telecommunications investment, equivalent to around $430m annually.
ACCC FUNDING BOOST: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission separately welcomed an additional $67.7m over four years to strengthen its competition and consumer law enforcement capabilities. ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said active, proportionate and evidence-based enforcement of competition and consumer law was central to the regulator’s work and “vital for the strength and productivity of our economy as a whole.”
“This additional funding will ensure we keep pace with technological advancements and remain effective in identifying, investigating and addressing unlawful conduct that harms consumers and seeks to disadvantage businesses that follow the rules,” Cass-Gottlieb said.
The ACCC said budget measures also included funding for guidance and education ahead of Australian Consumer Law amendments, including a general prohibition on unfair trading practices and penalties for non-compliance with consumer guarantees. It will also receive funding for nationally consistent safety standards for e-micromobility devices, a further 12 months of National Anti-Scam Centre activity,
four more years as Digital ID regulator and two more years of Consumer Data Right functions.
Grahame Lynch
Tech sector splits over Budget capital gains tax changes
Australia’s start-up sector has split over the federal government’s proposed capital gains tax reforms, with some warning the changes could weaken incentives to build companies locally while others argue the sector should not overstate the threat to innovation.
The Budget proposed replacing the 50% capital gains tax discount with inflation-adjusted indexation from July 1 2027, alongside a minimum 30% tax rate on capital gains. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the changes would be prospective, with gains accruing before July 1 2027 protected, and new residential builds retaining the option to use the existing 50% discount. He said the reforms were aimed at better aligning taxes on capital gains with taxes paid on wages. The measures have prompted concern in the technology sector because founder and employee equity is often a core part of compensation and reward for risk in early-stage companies.
Me&u co-founder Kim Teo said the government’s housing affordability objective was understandable but questioned why Australia would “decelerate innovation at a time when the world is putting two feet on the gas.” Teo said that, if start-up equity were included, the proposed change would roughly double tax on a successful founder exit in Australia from an effective 23.5% to about 46–47%. She argued that would make Australia less competitive against Singapore, the United States and New Zealand, and could also make equity less useful in attracting early employees.
“The start-up journey is already like eating glass a lot of the time — and while it’s not all about the money, this level of disincentive puts Australia on a back foot,” Teo said. She said Chalmers appeared to have left open the possibility of consultation on the treatment of early-stage and start-up businesses and said she would be willing to speak to the treasurer as “a founder, employing 150 people here in Australia.”
A different view was put by investor and commentator Jessy Wu, who argued the local technology sector needed to “reign in our collective hysteria” over the innovation impact of CGT reform. Wu said the Budget also included measures favourable to venture-backed companies, including changes to the Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership regime, which provides a 100% capital gains tax exemption on returns from eligible investments. She described the ESVCLP regime as, in effect, a government subsidy for venture investment that had helped build Australia’s domestic venture capital industry. “Overall, rebalancing the tax burden from work to wealth is the right move for a country of aspirants,” Wu said.
Wu said some technology sector voices had constructed a “strawman” against tax reform by suggesting founders would relocate rather than contribute more tax after a successful exit. She said most founders she had met did not fit that caricature and “deserve better.”
The Tech Council of Australia took a middle position, welcoming Budget measures on research, development and innovation while warning that the CGT changes could have unintended consequences for start-ups. TCA CEO Dr Kate Cornick said there was “much to be commended” in the Budget from the technology sector’s perspective, particularly changes to the Research and Development Tax Incentive and the venture capital regulatory regime. The TCA said those were areas it had advocated for over several years and were important to helping Australian companies commercialise, scale and contribute to economic growth.
However, Cornick said CGT remained “a vital lever” for rewarding risk-taking by employees, founders and investors. “There is work to do to ensure Australia’s start-up community doesn’t become collateral damage as a result of proposed changes to CGT,” she said.
Grahame Lynch
IN TODAY’S COMMSDAY (Friday 15May 2026)
A Senate inquiry has urged the upper house pass the government bill that will establish the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation. However, the bill drew criticism from non-government senators, who said it didn’t go far enough and called for the government to establish a mobile roaming regime.
Optus used full-page advertisements in major Australian newspapers yesterday to open its previously flagged We’re on It campaign, with CEO Stephen Rue apologising again for last year’s Triple Zero outage and setting out steps the carrier said it had taken to strengthen emergency call resilience.
Megaport’s wholly-owned AI enabler cloud provider Latitude.sh has secured three new major fixed-term contracts worth a total of around $254 million. The announcement spurred a 25%+ rise in its ASX stock price, adding half a billion dollars to its market capitalisation yesterday.
Australia is one of seven markets to get access to Equinix’s network-level data sovereignty enforcement service, Fabric Geo Zones, as part of a global expansion of the offering.
Stockland has filed an application for a ministerial permit to support the development of a data centre in the western Melbourne suburb of Laverton North.
Australian Communications and Media Authority decisions on expiring spectrum licences will have deep and long-lasting consequences for mobile investment, affordability and coverage, according to Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association CEO Louise Hyland.
A new Oxford Economics report commissioned by Amazon Leo has framed LEOsat broadband as a potential competitive constraint on terrestrial networks, rather than just a technology for remote users beyond the reach of fibre, fixed wireless or mobile coverage.
Telcos in Australia and New Zealand are getting ready to further monetise their network infrastructure beyond traditional services with the first commercial offerings leveraging autonomous networking launching as early as the latter half of this year, Red Hat telco, media & entertainment sales head Ben Panic said.
Spark in partnership with towerco Connexa will upgrade the battery backup capacity of 295 of its mobile sites to 24 hours as part of a contract with government-owned agency National Infrastructure Funding and Financing.
Plus more
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