The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts has consulted on the draft exposure of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Statutory Infrastructure Providers and Other Measures) Bill 2022. The Bill strengthens the Statutory Infrastructure Provider (SIP) regime, which aims to ensure all Australians have access to modern broadband services.
ACCAN supports the key changes proposed in the bill:
- bringing private networks in new developments into the SIP regime and making sure SIPs are ready to service buildings as soon as they are occupied.
- Clarifying primacy of SIP standards, rules and benchmarks over alternative access agreements, as well as the TIO’s jurisdiction in complaints involving SIPs.
- Empowering the ACMA to require developers to remediate deficient pit and pipe work as well as publish data on an individual telco’s customer service metrics.
The Draft Bill provides a timely opportunity to further strengthen consumer protections. ACCAN urges the Minister to exercise their powers under the SIP regime to set standards and benchmarks which address poor quality of service issues. Such standards should be supported by appropriate, automatic end user compensation for non-compliance.
For more information regarding ACCAN’s position on SIP standards, rules and benchmarks, see:
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DITRDC SIP Amendment and other measures bill 20223.53 MB
Download: 
DITRDC SIP Amendment and other measures bill 2022254.54 KB