How Optus will get a financial bonanza, even in wake of it's triple zero mistakes

For another week Optus has been in the spotlight for its deadly triple zero outage.

During an intense grilling at last week's Senate hearings, more damning revelations emerged.

The carrier was accused of pure incompetence in their network oversight and unnecessary delay in informing the government and regulator about the severity of the outage.

The subsequent damning assessment by parliamentarians of Optus's failures in this saga was entirely deserved.

There has been no shortage of opinions about what should happen to Optus since the deadly September 18, triple zero outage.

There have been calls for the CEO to resign, for the carrier to be hit with a substantial penalty, for the executives to be prosecuted and even a review into their license to operate.

But no one has suggested Optus be given a share of a billion-dollar financial windfall on critical public infrastructure.

A deal that would bolster profits and restrict competition to the existing three major telcos. For this is what is currently planned.

It all revolves around how the federal government approaches telecommunications spectrum licenses. Some 69 existing spectrum licenses across seven bands are due to expire between 2028 and 2032. Forty-eight of these are held by the three mobile network operators.

Spectrum is a valuable public resource. It must be managed carefully to ensure the proper functioning of commercial, government, military and emergency communications - everything from mobile phones, to radios, to televisions, to satellites, to submarines could not work without it.

It is the job of the regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), to assign spectrum. But their proposed approach on this issue is baffling and potentially costly.

ACMA plans to renew expiring mobile spectrum licenses without a competitive auction, a decision that risks forfeiting by their own estimates between $2 billion and $3.2 billion in public revenue over coming years.

This would be a bonanza for big players Optus, Telstra and TPG.

The realisation of this bizarre plan is growing. Professor Allan Fels, the former head of the ACCC, is the latest to come out to call for ACAMA's current approach to be abandoned, labelling it a disaster for the country.

Professor Richard Holden from the UNSW Business School has queried the ACMA's international benchmark analysis which suggests that the value of spectrum has plummeted, echoing Professor Fels's insistence that an auction would ensure a fair return for the public.

In addition, he notes that at the very least conditions should be placed on spectrum licenses to ensure consumers gain the benefits of cheaper prices and more investment where its most needed.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh has also called on the government to "review the auction decision immediately" due to concerns that taxpayers and consumers will be left in the lurch.

But there is still a bewildering disconnect in which the government, despite its scathing admonishment of Optus, is content to push ahead with a costly approach to spectrum - that bizarrely benefits Optus and the bottom line of the major telcos.

The reality of the current planned approach is not only a bonanza for Optus - it would also reduce competition among telecommunications providers and hamper the introduction of new technologies -all but guaranteeing we will all pay much higher prices in future.

In his analysis, Professor Holden argues that by granting renewed access to existing telcos without testing the market through an auction, ACMA risks entrenching incumbent dominance, limiting opportunities for new entrants, and failing to ensure fair market value for a critical public resource.

In a recent online debate, Professor Holden said that there really is nothing to be afraid of with the auction approach - but there are concerns to be had with the license rollover approach. After all, argued Professor Holden, if the big telcos and the regulator are right and spectrum really is worth less than it was before, than the cold, hard light of an auction would recognise this and deliver lower prices for telcos.

The approach of the regulator, ACMA, on this issue is perplexing.

I believe the government should take the very opposite stance. It must insist on an open competitive process that does not just serve the interests of the big telcos. Communications is now more than ever a critical part of life for Australians - and even a matter of life and death.

For too long, the major telcos have not been held to account for their failures. They are the recipients of major government contracts and despite their failures, the gravy train rolls on.

It is time to stop this. To hold them to account and to ensure the Australian public get the services they both need and demand.

We must make the most of spectrum to allow the maximum amount of income for taxpayers. And we must continue to hold providers like Optus to account when they fail - which as we have seen over recent weeks has deadly consequences.

Read on The Canberra Times: Optus triple zero outage raises spectrum auction concerns | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT