Another busy month for IAA’s policy team as we work on responding to key submissions and holding the first Public Policy Advisory Panel meeting of 2023. As always, please feel free to share any concerns or comments regarding public policy areas affecting the Internet community. 

Completed Submissions

Proposed Variation to the NBN Co Special Access Undertaking | ACCC
Since withdrawing its proposed SAU in July 2022, NBN Co submitted its revised SAU proposal in November 2022. The ACCC is seeking views on whether it should accept the new SAU. While the latest SAU proposal definitely demonstrates some improvement, IAA still indicated some concerns primarily regarding its pricing model, and service quality and standards.

Digital Platforms: Government Consultation on ACCC’s Regulatory Reform Recommendations – Consultation Paper | Department of Treasury
Following the ACCC’s report on Digital Platforms in late 2022, the Treasury sought views on introducing new regulation based on the ACCC’s recommendations. Our response primarily emphasised the critical importance of distinguishing ISPs from digital platforms as the ‘pipes’ of the Internet to ensure telco providers are not subject to any new regulations.

Record Keeping Rule – NBN Service Performance | ACCC
The ACCC held a consultation for a development of a Record Keeping Rule (RKR) for NBN Co’s service performance. The Consultation Paper also sought views on applying comparable regulation for SBAS providers. In general, IAA supported the development of RKRs for both NBN Co and SBAS providers to ensure transparency and accountability of the provision of NBN and SBAS services. RSPs are often blamed for service faults by consumers, but public reporting made mandatory by RKR can help increase awareness and understanding in the consumer base of underlying network issues affecting their services, and in turn, force NBN Co and SBAS to improve their service provision.

Open Submissions 

Copyright Enforcement Review 2022-2023 | Attorney General’s Department | 7 March 2023
The Attorney General is reviewing Australia’s copyright enforcement regime. Following recent court cases involving various ISPs and entertainment companies regarding website blocking, a review into Australia’s copyright regime seems indeed necessary to develop a more robust and efficient framework.

Privacy Act Review Report 2022 | Attorney General’s Department | 31 March 2023
Continuing its review since 2020, the Attorney General has issued its Privacy Act Review Report, seeking feedback on 116 recommendations. This Report follows recent high-profile data-breach incidents that occurred in late 2022, which brought to light major issues regarding Australia’s privacy framework. As data becomes increasingly commodified and important in today’s digital age, IAA is committed to contributing to the development of a privacy regime that is effective but measured.

Euro-IX, the association of European Internet Exchange Points, expressed their concerns about the ‘Sending Party Network Pays’ model and its potential impact on IXPs. In a letter sent to the EU in early January 2023, Euro-IX opposed the ‘fair share’ argument that proposes Big Tech should pay network costs to telcos to help fund network maintenance and upkeep. 

This has been a complex issue that has continued to trouble policymakers and industry. Euro-IX recognised the need of some form of regulatory adjustment to address the issue of great network costs that operators face, but raised concerns about the SPNP model, including: 

• Increased costs of concluding interconnection agreements.
• Inhibiting networks’ choice to peer.
• Reduced interconnection density and quality of service for end users.
• Replacement of the current market-based model for interconnection with a highly regulated market wherein administrative rules rather than technical considerations become the primary determinant of interconnection decisions. 
• Accidental creation of new systemic weaknesses in critical infrastructure.  

Pointing to the recent case of South Korea, where mandatory termination charges have resulted in reduced service quality and security, Euro-IX warned that regulation as proposed by SPNP would ‘… be detrimental to the correct functioning of the Internet connectivity and peering market and distort competition therein’. 

As this continues to be a live debate, we will have to keep an eye out for developments in Europe to see how the policy landscape may change in Australia. 

You can read Euro-IX’s letter on our website.  

The ACMA announced changes to Australia’s Telecommunications Numbering Plan in December 2022, as per the Telecommunications Numbering Plan Variation 2022 (No. 1). The Variation intends to support the improvement of the allocation of phone numbers to reduce scam activities.

Substantive changes include:

• A new voluntary short-code 7226 (SCAM) for telecommunications providers to use to help consumers report scam calls and SMS that can be actioned directly to their provider.
• New powers for the ACMA to withdraw phone numbers that have been used for scams or other fraudulent activity.
• Smaller block-sizes of numbers (10,000) to be allocated to telecommunications providers from 17 April 2023 to assist competition and the efficient use of numbers in the industry.
• New number ranges in specified locations to cater for future demand.

The ACMA held its consultation on the Variation in late October 2022. You can read IAA’s response on our website. Of the variations, 3 are intended to be short-term measures to improve the framework prior to a more comprehensive review of the Plan, which will be conducted before the Plan expires in 2025.

It’s been all systems go from the beginning of this year on the public policy front! From consultations on policies and legislation affecting the telecommunications sphere such as NBN, USO and information sharing, to meetings with government and other industry stakeholders. In 2023, IAA will continue to represent our members and the general wellbeing of the Internet and Internet industry.

Completed Submissions

C647 NBN Co Access Transfer Code | Communications Alliance

Communications Alliance and the Working Committee have drafted an Industry Code regarding NBN Co Access Transfers. Among other changes, the Code will mandate provisioning customers with AVC IDs so they can be used when transferring NBN services. This is intended to stop non-authorised transfers. Our response expressed our overall support for the Code but made some recommendations to improve its clarity, as well as regarding the retention of personal information to better encourage best practice privacy measures.

Telecommunications Universal Obligation (Standard Telephone Service – Requirements and Circumstances) Determination 2022 | Department of Industry, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts

The Draft Determination pertains to the USO for the supply of a standard telephone service. In our submission, we noted our support for the USG over the USO given the contemporary technological landscape. However, in light of the USO continuing, we made recommendations to improve the clarity of the instrument so that customers will not be unreasonably denied service due to unclear legislation.

Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Information Disclosure, National Interest and Other Measures) Bill 2022 | Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communication

Among other changes, the Bill primarily seeks to remove the need for an ‘imminent’ threat to a person’s life or health in order for information to be disclosed to law enforcement and emergency services agencies. To ensure sufficient oversight in light of this significant change, there will also be changes to record-keeping rules for telecommunications providers. In our submission, we noted that only a targeted consultation was conducted, despite the changes affecting all telecommunications providers. As such, we recommended greater engagement measures to be taken to ensure sufficient awareness raising and guidance for industry to implement the changes once legislated.

Open Submissions

Record Keeping Rule for fixed line superfast broadband networks | ACCC | 10 February 2023

ACCC is developing the RKR for NBN Co regarding its service quality and network performance.

Digital Platforms: Government consultation on ACCC’s regulatory reform recommendations | Treasury | 15 February 2023

The Treasury is seeking views on the ACCC’s recommendations for the regulation of Digital Platform Services as per the inquiry since 2020.

NBN Co SAU variation (November 2022) | NBN Co & ACCC | 17 February 2023

NBN Co have lodged their revised SAU variation with the ACCC following consultation regarding its previous SAU variation, which was withdrawn in July.

The SAU variation includes changes to product and pricing commitments, the framework for NBN Co’s cost recovery, rules for how the ACCC assesses network expenditure and the service standards framework.

While we’re sure we would all like to pretend that the telecommunications sector’s participation and compliance with the Consumer Data Right (CDR) won’t be mandatory, that’s far from the truth.  

According to the draft rules, telcos with at least 30,000 services in operation will be subject to the scheme with smaller telcos able to elect to participate in the scheme, which will apply to fixed internet services and public mobile services. 

While the rollout timeline does not yet specify the telco sector, the Department of the Treasury continue to work on the standards and rules which will apply. We do know that once the rules come into place, the implementation will be through a 2-part process, requiring Telstra, Optus and TPG to be subject to the obligations, followed by the rest of applicable telcos in the second tranche.  

We encourage you keep an eye on the development of the standards and rules and respond to the consultations where you can.  

The rules will be in place with your compliance mandatory before you know it… 

It has been another busy month for the policy team, from responding to consultations and meeting with NBN Co over the launch of the Low-Income Forum to holding our last IAA Public Policy Advisory Panel meeting for the year – while 2022 may be coming to a close, there’s still lots of work being done on the public policy front. Make sure to read our articles for more information on the work we’ve been doing this month. As always, if you would like to discuss any of the below reforms or if there are any other policy areas/issues of concern, please feel free to shoot us an email.

Completed Submissions

Variation of the Telecommunications Numbering Plan 2015 | ACMA
We didn’t see any substantive issues arising from ACMA’s proposal to vary the Telco Numbering Plan. However, if these variations are effected, this may mean some changes for the industry and your business, such as an obligation for donor CSPs to check the registration status of other CSPs to which they have assigned numbers. As such, we primarily advocated for ACMA to ensure efficient and reliable notification mechanisms and to conduct an awareness campaign to ensure CSPs are aware of any new obligations or systems. The Numbering Plan is set to sunset in 2025 and so we anticipate there will be further reforms in the future.

Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022 | Attorney General’s Department
In our response to this fast-tracked legislation, we raised our concerns about the government’s focus in the wake of the recent major data breaches in Australia. While IAA acknowledges the importance of having adequate laws to ensure a strong security posture, we are concerned about the efficacy of the Bill. The Bill, which was further reviewed by the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs at a public hearing on 17 November, is primarily focused on increasing penalties for serious and/or repeated breaches of the privacy regime. However, this suggests that many companies are wilfully negligent about their privacy obligations. We argued that companies, particularly smaller businesses, struggle with the complexity of regulation and the lack of sufficient training and resources provided. Meanwhile, the sophistication and frequency of attacks only increases. We emphasised that the more pressing issues that require government attention are clarifying different regimes that mandate how much data companies should collect and retain, and provide support, particularly to small businesses, to ensure improved security and privacy practices. As the Privacy Act is still undergoing review by the AG Department with the Government report expected by the end of the year, IAA will continue to be involved in ensuring the development of an effective and practical privacy regime in Australia.

Open Submissions

WBA5 – First Consultation Paper on Implementing a Varied SAU | NBN Co | 6 December 2022
The NBN Co has issued its first consultation paper detailing some of the prioritised changes that will be implemented by the varied SAU. If you have any comments on these changes you would like us to include in our submission, please contact us.
Utilisation-based billing: NBN will change the TC4 Billing Model from ‘provisioned’ CVC to ‘utilised’ for TC-4 Bundling so that RSPs no longer have to actively forecast and manage CVC provisioning and will only be charged for what is utilised.
CVC inclusions adjustment: defined rules for bi-annual adjustments to CVC inclusions reflecting actual changes in end-user download usage over time for TC4 Bundled Offers.
Voice-only bundling offering: new voice-only $12/month at 12/1Mbps speed tier. Different prices applying to voice online and broadband will be based on a threshold data test.
Overbooking of CVC TC4 on NNI: NBN Co will allow RSPs to order aggregate CVC TC4 capacity in excess of NNI capacity.
Overage waiver: during the transition between bundled TC4 to flat rate offers, the overage waiver will be modified by changing the waiver threshold.

Superfast Broadband Access Service Final Access Determination Inquiry | ACCC | 9 December 202
The ACCC has released its draft decision on the SBAS Determination. The new measures proposed include regulation of access prices at the 50/20 Mbps speed tier, and charges for customer connections, transfers and appointments. There are also new requirements purported to improve the transparency of SBAS network performance and reliability.