Exposure Draft—Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Statutory Infrastructure Providers and Other Measures) Bill 2022

The proposed Bill will refine the SIP regime in the Telecommunications Act 1997. Key changes include:

• bringing private networks in new developments into the SIP regime
• making sure SIPs are ready to service buildings as soon as they are occupied
• clarifying the primacy of standards, rules and benchmark for SIPs
• confirming that SIPs can be required to pay compensation
• clarifying the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman's jurisdiction in complaints involving SIPs
• empowering the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to require developers to remediate deficient pit and pipe work.

The Bill will also amend the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 to give ACMA powers to publish data on individual providers' performance on a range of consumer service metrics.

Overall, the Bill will provide greater certainty for industry and consumers about their access to the essential broadband and voice services that underpin modern economic and social activity.

Submissions should be emailed to usb@communications.gov.au by 30 September 2022. If you would like to discuss the Bill with us, please also email us and we will contact you.

Relevant documentation

• Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Statutory Infrastructure Providers and Other Measures) Bill 2022

After consideration of the submissions, the Minister introduced the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards and Other Measures) Bill 2023 into the Parliament on 7 December 2023.

The Department held further discussions with stakeholders about the Bill and made some refinements to the Bill before it was introduced into the Parliament on 7 December 2023.