From CommsDay of 16 October 2026
We have said it before – there is a lot happening in telecommunications at the moment. And a lot of it happened this week.
On Monday, TelSoc held its Charles Todd Oration and lunch in Sydney. Our speaker was Sri Amirthalingam, Chief Technology Officer of Optus and the title of his speech was “Lucky by Design: What Australia must do to succeed in the new world”. It was well delvered and well received. The Charles Todd Oration was coverd by CommsDay, and will be further covered in the Journal.
The Wednesday and Thursday issues of CommsDay comprehensively covered the proiceedings of the CommsDay Wholesale Congress 2026. Many of the sessions were opportunities for telecommunications sector participants to make significant announcements or to advocate.
Yesterday, the ACCC published the long-awaited terms of reference for its mobile services inquiry. Two important proposals for discussion are the possible declaration of (1) national roaming and (2) Radio Access Network (RAN) wholesale services.
Our Story of the Week is an article in today’s CommsDay on the passage of the UOMO (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) by the Senate. This is a significant development following a lot of public and political debate.
UOMO passes Senate with Coalition amendments on reliability and roaming
The Senate has passed the federal government’s Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation bill after accepting three Coalition amendments requiring mandatory mobile reliability standards, a regulatory backstop for temporary disaster roaming and further consideration of domestic roaming by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The amendments, agreed to on Thursday, add new obligations to legislation that also gives the communications minister broad powers to regulate the quality and reliability of mobile services across Australia. The bill must return to the House of Representatives for approval of the Senate’s changes before it can become law.
Communications minister Anika Wells told CommsDay: “the Albanese government is serious about improving our telecommunications system now and into the future. These laws back consumers with better protections and improved connectivity into the future.”
A significant feature of the legislation is a new power allowing the minister to make standards, rules and benchmarks applying to carriers and carriage service providers supplying mobile services over terrestrial networks. These powers can be exercised from the commencement of the legislation, ahead of the UOMO’s scheduled introduction in December 2027.
The powers cover service reliability, voice call quality, SMS performance, fault rectification timeframes, network congestion and information provided to customers. They are separate from the minister’s powers to regulate services supplied under the
UOMO itself.
The government’s explanatory memorandum says the provisions provide a mechanism to protect consumers in the event of market failure. It says the government does not intend to use the general mobile service powers to regulate retail prices.
The first Coalition amendment goes further by requiring the minister to establish performance and reliability standards for terrestrial mobile services within three months of the ACCC publishing its final mobile services inquiry report. The minister must consider the inquiry’s findings on coverage gaps, service reliability, competition and investment in regional mobile networks. The amendment also requires consultation with the ACCC, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, carriers, carriage service providers and consumer and regional representatives.
The second Coalition amendment establishes a legislative backstop for temporary disaster roaming. If the minister determines that sufficient industry arrangements are not in place by 31 October, the minister must establish a regulatory framework commencing no later than 1 December 2026.
The framework would require designated providers to allow customers to use alternative mobile networks during natural disasters when their usual network is unavailable, subject to technical practicality and the safe and reliable operation of networks. If the minister considers existing industry arrangements sufficient, the minister must instead table a statement in Parliament by 31 October explaining those arrangements.
The third Coalition amendment requires the minister to formally request that the ACCC consider the consumer benefits and effects on investment and competition of declaring domestic mobile roaming as part of its current inquiry.
The amendment expressly preserves the ACCC’s existing statutory test for declaring telecommunications services.
During approximately 30 minutes of Senate debate, Liberal senator Sarah Henderson criticised the legislation despite the Coalition’s eventual support. She questioned whether direct-to-device satellite voice services could be delivered by December 2027, citing uncertainty over satellite deployment, compatible handsets and spectrum availability. Henderson accused the government of cutting regional
connectivity programs and leaving too much of the UOMO’s implementation to future ministerial decisions.
She described the ACCC’s mobile services inquiry as a potential “game changer” and argued that mandatory reliability standards were needed because “coverage means nothing if the service is unreliable, congested or simply does not work.”
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called the legislation a missed opportunity to overhaul telecommunications consumer protections, arguing that mobile providers should face enforceable reliability obligations and compensate customers when services fail. She accused the major operators of putting profits ahead of network investment and criticised both major parties for failing to support stronger safeguards.
“This bill is going to pass and Australians have no more guarantees or protection that their mobile phone service will work,” she said. Hanson-Young also advocated mandatory domestic roaming, arguing that customers should be able to access another operator’s network when their usual service was unavailable.
Labor senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah defended the bill by pointing to the communications failures during Victoria’s January bushfires, when hundreds of fixed and mobile network sites went offline and emergency services struggled to maintain contact. She said the UOMO’s combination of terrestrial and satellite connectivity would provide an additional communications option during disasters. “Under this law … you will be able to get outdoor coverage via text messaging initially nearly anywhere if you can look up to see the sky,” she said.
Ananda-Rajah also welcomed the temporary disaster roaming arrangements introduced by the three national mobile operators on 1 October. The government opposed amendments from the Greens that would have required broader mobile service standards and introduced automatic compensation for customers affected by breaches of designated standards. These were defeated, along with a Greens proposal to require the ACCC to declare domestic mobile roaming within six months.
The Greens’ compensation proposal included payments within four weeks of providers becoming aware of a breach, with compensation levels taking account of outage duration, service degradation and the impact on regional customers. Separate amendments from senator Jacqui Lambie covering affordability, compatible devices, fault rectification and temporary disaster roaming were also defeated.
The bill establishes a requirement for Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom to provide reasonable access to outdoor voice and SMS coverage across Australia, with the government expecting operators to combine terrestrial networks with emerging direct-to-device satellite technology. The obligation is scheduled to commence on 1 December 2027, although the minister will have discretion to vary commencement dates according to technological readiness.
SAFEGUARDS BILL ALSO PASSES: In a separate development, the Senate also passed the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 without amendments, completing its passage through Parliament.
The legislation introduces a compulsory registration scheme for carriage service providers, gives the ACMA powers to refuse or revoke registration and makes compliance with registered telecommunications industry codes directly enforceable. It removes the existing requirement for ACMA to first direct a provider to comply with an industry code before taking stronger enforcement action.
The legislation also raises maximum civil penalties for breaches of industry codes, standards and service provider determinations from $250,000 to the greatest of 30,300 penalty units, equivalent to approximately $10 million at the time of drafting, three times the beneϐit obtained from a breach or 30% of adjusted turnover during the breach period. The bill also expands the minister’s powers to increase infringement notice penalties for breaches that ACMA is already authorised to penalise.
Acting ACMA chair Adam Suckling said, “The new laws are good for Australian consumers because they will see improved Australia-wide mobile coverage and also enhance consumer protections. The registration scheme adds a further safeguard by allowing ACMA to keep providers with unacceptable compliance records out of the market.”
Grahame Lynch
IN TODAY’S COMMSDAY (Friday 16 October 2026)
The Senate has passed the federal government’s Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation bill after accepting three Coalition amendments requiring mandatory mobile reliability standards, a regulatory backstop for temporary disaster roaming and further consideration of domestic roaming by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has identified several competitive advantages of regulated radio access network sharing over conventional domestic roaming as it questions whether Australia’s traditional model of coverage-based mobile competition can continue to deliver infrastructure investment.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has identified deteriorating investment economics as a key reason for reconsidering compulsory wholesale access to mobile networks, but has given little specific attention to whether spectrum acquisition and renewal prices are contributing to the problem.
The Internet Association of Australia will coordinate an open letter from smaller telecommunications providers seeking a hearing from communications minister Anika Wells, following a contentious panel discussion at this week’s CommsDay Wholesale Congress about the growing regulatory burden on challenger telcos.
ACCAN has withdrawn from two key NBN Co consumer forums, citing the expiry of a one-off grant, despite having participated in both before the funding was provided in 2024.
Communications minister Anika Wells has indicated the government is open to amendments to its Digital Duty of Care bill, including a Greens proposal to allow individuals and groups to sue major technology platforms for breaches of their safety obligations.
Opticomm is accelerating its network upgrade program with the aim of giving all customers access to speeds of 1Gbps or more by 2030, while targeting full diversity and redundancy across at least 85% of its network over the same period.
S&P Global Ratings has maintained Chorus’ long-term rating despite the sale of its Ultrafast Broadband equity and debt funding securities.
Tait Communications collaborated with US-based mission critical communications solutions provider Zetron to implement voice console technology for the Land Mobile Radio component of New Zealand’s Public Safety Network.
Netnumber has announced a strategic partnership with Australian messaging technology provider Kudosity to bring advanced phone number intelligence, intelligent routing, identity and fraud mitigation capabilities to enterprise messaging.
_______________________________
CommsDay is published by Decisive Publishing, S704 6A Glen St Milsons Point NSW
ACN: 065 084960 Mailing Address: PO Box 490 Milsons Point NSW 1565 Australia
TO SUBMIT EDITORIAL FEEDBACK OR INQUIRIES: gr**********@**********il.com
TO ENQUIRE ABOUT A SUBSCRIPTION: vi***@**********il.com
