Australia may require mobile network sharing

Australian competition regulator ACCC has launched an inquiry into whether to mandate the establishment of a wholesale mobile roaming service, particularly in regional areas.

The regulator is considering declaring a wholesale domestic mobile roaming service, which mobile providers could use to provide coverage in areas where they do not operate their own network.

The inquiry will seek to evaluate how consumer demands for mobile service are evolving and whether this differs in regional and urban areas.

In addition, the ACCC will evaluate the likely investment plans of established mobile operators absent a declaration, as well as whether there are any barriers to extending the reach of mobile networks.

While the ACCC has previously considered mandating the provision of mobile roaming in regional areas in 1998 and 2005, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said much has changed since this time.

“Network coverage is clearly a key feature of a mobile service, and each of the mobile network operators has extended its networks since we last looked at this issue in detail,” he said.

“We do think it’s time we look at the issue again in detail, and examine some of these key matters, including consumer demand, network investment, and barriers to competition. We consider the most efficient way to do that is to consider all of the issues carefully through a declaration inquiry.”

But he stressed that the regulator has not yet formed any opinion as to whether the declaration is needed, and that the inquiry could instead find that consumers would be harmed by the introduction of such a requirement because it could give mobile operators less incentive to invest in expanding their networks.